3 William Kennedy first editions are documented on this shelf, from Legs (1975) to Ironweed (1983) across 3 different publishers. Each linked guide gives the points of issue that separate a true first printing of that William Kennedy title from later printings and book-club copies — the publisher and year to expect, the number-line or edition-statement conventions, and the tells that show up in online listings.
Identification only, per the house rule: no prices and no appraisals here. Checking a William Kennedy copy in hand? Type the title into the First-Edition Checker or photograph the copyright page with Snap & Sort.
- Legs — 1975 · Coward, McCann & GeogheganFirst printing from Coward, McCann & Geoghegan, New York, 1975; tan paper boards with a gilt-stamped Kennedy signature, backed in black cloth with gilt spine lettering; dust jacket priced on the front flap. First volume of the Albany cycle. The US Coward, McCann & Geoghegan 1975 edition is the true first; it is scarcer in firsts than Ironweed. The first-edition jacket itself notes the title as a Book-of-the-Month Club alternate selection, so that blurb is not a book-club tell. Book-club reprints lack the printed jacket flap price and are typically on lighter boards.
- Billy Phelan's Greatest Game — 1978 · Viking PressFirst printing from The Viking Press, New York, 1978; grey cloth with silver spine lettering; 282 pp.; dust jacket priced on the front flap, with the Viking first-printing copyright statement. Second Albany-cycle novel. The US Viking 1978 edition is the true first; the UK first follows. Book-club copies lack the printed jacket flap price, are on lighter boards, and do not carry Viking's first-printing copyright statement.
- Ironweed — 1983 · The Viking PressViking 1983 first printing: copyright page reads 'First published in 1983 by The Viking Press' with no later-printing line. First-state text point: on page 205 'perceived' is misprinted as 'perceivced' (corrected in later printings). First-issue quarter grey cloth over black boards, priced jacket designed by Neil Stuart. Ahearn APG 006b. US Viking 1983 is the true first; third novel of the Albany Cycle. The UK Allen Lane/Penguin edition is a separate printing. Book-club editions bear a blind-stamp and unpriced jacket; later printings add printing statements and correct the page-205 typo.
More Literary Fiction (US) & Award Winners shelves: William Makepeace Thackeray, William Styron, Wright Morris, W.S. Merwin, Zadie Smith, Zora Neale Hurston.
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