7 William Kittredge first editions are documented on this shelf, from The Van Gogh Field and Other Stories (1978) to The Willow Field (2006) across 4 different publishers. Each linked guide gives the points of issue that separate a true first printing of that William Kittredge 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 Kittredge copy in hand? Type the title into the First-Edition Checker or photograph the copyright page with Snap & Sort.
- The Van Gogh Field and Other Stories — 1978 · University of Missouri PressUniversity of Missouri Press, Columbia, in the Breakthrough series; first printing; copyright page dated 1978. Issued as a hardcover in cloth-backed boards; the Breakthrough series also released a simultaneous paperback issue. True first US and Kittredge's first book of short stories. The hardcover is the collected first issue. No book-club edition. The copyright/title page reads 1978, not 1979; some later cataloguing carried a 1979 date in error.
- We Are Not in This Together — 1984 · Graywolf PressGraywolf Press first printing, Port Townsend, dated 1984; foreword by Raymond Carver; trade issue in cloth-backed boards, plus a limited issue of fifty numbered copies signed by both Kittredge and Carver. True first US, Kittredge's second book of stories. The signed and numbered limited issue is the premium first; the trade cloth-backed boards issue is the standard collected first. No book-club edition. Distinguish the trade issue from the fifty-copy signed limited.
- Owning It All — 1987 · Graywolf PressGraywolf Press first printing, Saint Paul, dated 1987; issued as a trade paperback original in illustrated wraps, 182 pages, ISBN 0-915308-96-7. No hardcover was issued, so the paperback in illustrated wraps is the true first issue; identification rests on the 1987 Graywolf imprint and the first-printing statement, later printings (for example a stated second printing) being the tell to avoid. True first US, a collection of essays. The trade paperback in illustrated wraps is the standard and only first issue; no hardcover was published. No book-club edition.
- Hole in the Sky: A Memoir — 1992 · Alfred A. KnopfAlfred A. Knopf, New York, dated 1992; 'First Edition' stated on the copyright page with the Borzoi colophon and a number line descending to 1. Bound in black cloth over boards with gilt spine stamping, octavo, 238 pages, and issued in a priced dust jacket; the jacket should carry its printed price, with price-clipping not by itself indicating a later printing. True first US edition of Kittredge's memoir and best-known book. No book-club concern for the stated Knopf first; confirm the 'First Edition' statement, the Borzoi colophon, and the full number line ending in 1. A later Random House Vintage trade paperback (1993) is a separate later issue, not the first.
- Who Owns the West? — 1996 · Mercury HouseMercury House, San Francisco, first printing dated 1996, issued as a trade paperback original in pictorial printed wrappers (there was no hardcover). Collects three essays: 'Heaven on Earth,' 'Lost Cowboys and Other Westerners,' and 'Departures.' Roughly 176 pages; the first printing carries the Mercury House imprint and 1996 copyright with no later-printing statement. True first US edition, a collection of three essays. Because it was issued as a paperback original there is no hardcover first; a fine copy is one in clean pictorial printed wrappers. No book-club edition. Later printings would carry a printing statement on the copyright page absent from the true first.
- The Nature of Generosity — 2000 · Alfred A. KnopfAlfred A. Knopf, New York, dated 2000 (ISBN 0-679-43752-5), with 'First Edition' stated on the copyright page above a descending number line ending in 1, in the Borzoi Books house style. Issued in a priced dust jacket; the printed jacket price should be present. This is Kittredge's book-length meditation, not a novel. True first US; there is no earlier printing, and the stated 'First Edition' with the intact number line identifies the first printing. No book-club edition is a concern for the stated Knopf first; simply confirm the 'First Edition' statement and that the number line still descends to 1. Later Vintage/Knopf trade-paperback issues use a different ISBN and are not the first edition.
- The Willow Field — 2006 · Alfred A. KnopfAlfred A. Knopf, New York, dated 2006; 'First Edition' stated on the copyright page with a number line ending in 1. Hardcover, 320 pages, issued in a pictorial dust jacket that should retain its printed price; price-clipping does not by itself indicate a later printing. This is Kittredge's first (and only) novel. True first US edition of Kittredge's first (and only) novel. No book-club edition concern for the Knopf trade first; confirm the stated 'First Edition' and the number line ending in 1. A large-print edition (ISBN 9780786293537) exists as a separate later issue and is not the first.
More Nature, Western & Americana shelves: Zane Grey, A. B. Guthrie Jr., Annie Dillard, Anya Seton, Barry Lopez, Bret Easton Ellis.
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