W.S. Merwin First Editions

• A Mask for Janus — 1952 · Yale University PressMerwin's first book, selected by W. H. Auden for the Yale Series of Younger Poets (volume 49), with an Auden introduction. Yale University Press first edition, 1952, roughly xiii + 67 pages, bound in original blue paper boards printed in light blue, issued in dust jacket; per Bloomfield and Mendelson's Auden bibliography only about 511 copies were printed, so a fine jacketed copy is scarce. US true first; a Yale Younger Poets volume with Auden selection and introduction. An Auden-association debut. No book-club edition. Later Yale printings carry printing notes distinguishing them from the first.
• The Dancing Bears — 1954 · Yale University PressFirst edition, Yale University Press, New Haven, 1954, Merwin's second book of poetry (88 pages, small octavo). Issued in blue paper-covered boards with a red illustration to the front and titling in white; in the pictorial dust jacket, which carries the printed price on the front flap (present on unclipped copies). Identified as the first by the 1954 Yale imprint with no later-printing statement on the copyright…. US Yale University Press, 1954; sole first edition, no earlier or competing printing. Note this title was not itself a Yale Series of Younger Poets selection (that was his 1952 debut A Mask for Janus), though it was likewise published by Yale. No book club edition.
• Green with Beasts — 1956 · Alfred A. KnopfMerwin's third poetry collection, issued in 1956 in two separate first editions the same year: Alfred A. Knopf in New York and Rupert Hart-Davis in London. The London Hart-Davis edition was a Poetry Book Society Choice and came with a yellow Poetry Book Society wrap-around band; it was printed by the Ditchling Press, Sussex. Each edition is the first printing of its own imprint, identified by the 1956 date with…. Both the US Knopf and UK Hart-Davis editions appeared in 1956 and precedence between them is not firmly established; some bibliographic listings place Knopf (New York) first. This should be treated as two same-year firsts rather than a settled UK-first. Collect whichever imprint you have as a 1956 first edition. No book club edition.
• The Drunk in the Furnace — 1960 · Rupert Hart-DavisMerwin's fourth collection. The London Rupert Hart-Davis edition, 1960, is the first hardbound edition and the true first, printed by the Windmill Press, Kingswood, Surrey. The New York Macmillan edition of 1960 was issued as a paperbound original, so the Hart-Davis hardcover has clear format precedence as the first hardback. Identified by the 1960 Hart-Davis imprint in cloth with dust jacket. UK Rupert Hart-Davis, 1960, is the first hardbound edition and is the collectible true first; the same-year US Macmillan edition was a paperback original, not a hardcover first. No book club edition.
• The Lice — 1967 · AtheneumAtheneum first edition with 'First Edition' stated on the copyright page. Issued simultaneously in cloth (hardcover, dust jacket priced on the flap) and in paperbound wrappers; the cloth issue in jacket is the collected hardcover first. A landmark of Merwin's open-form period. US true first; precedes the 1969 Rupert Hart-Davis UK edition. One of the most collected Merwin titles. No book-club edition. Later Atheneum printings drop the 'First Edition' statement.
• The Carrier of Ladders — 1970 · AtheneumAtheneum first edition with 'First Edition' stated on the copyright page. Issued simultaneously in cloth (hardcover, dust jacket priced on the flap) and in paperbound wrappers; the cloth issue in jacket is the collected hardcover first. Awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Poetry in 1971. US true first and Pulitzer winner (prize conferred 1971 for the 1970 book). No book-club edition. Later printings drop the 'First Edition' statement.
• The Miner's Pale Children — 1970 · AtheneumMerwin's first prose collection (short prose pieces and parables, several first published in The New Yorker). First edition, Atheneum, New York, 1970, cloth in dust jacket. Atheneum stated First Edition on the copyright page for its firsts in this period, with no later-printing indicator. US Atheneum, 1970; first appearance and first prose book by the author. No book club edition.
• Writings to an Unfinished Accompaniment — 1973 · AtheneumFirst edition, Atheneum, New York, 1973, cloth in dust jacket. Atheneum stated First Edition on the copyright page for its firsts in this period, with no later-printing statement present on the true first. US Atheneum, 1973. No book club edition.
• The Compass Flower — 1977 · AtheneumFirst edition, Atheneum, 1977. Issued as a paperback original in illustrated wrappers (gray card wrappers with the flower device on the front, author photo by Thomas Victor on the rear). First printing carries the Atheneum 'First Edition' statement on the copyright page; later printings are so marked (e.g. 'Second Printing'). US Atheneum paperback original; no separate cloth or hardcover issue was published. No book club edition.
• Migration: New and Selected Poems — 2005 · Copper Canyon PressFirst printing has a full number line ending in 1 on the copyright page; clothbound in dust jacket. ISBN 9781556592188. The National Book Award seal is a publisher-applied sticker, not a printing point. The Copper Canyon clothbound US edition of 2005 (ISBN 9781556592188) is the true first and the collector's first. There was no simultaneous 2005 paperback: the trade paperback (ISBN 9781556592614) is a later 2007 issue, not a true-first state. The 2007 paperback is a reprint, not a first. Later printings show a shortened number line not reaching 1. No book-club edition noted.
• The Shadow of Sirius — 2008 · Copper Canyon PressWon the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, Merwin's second. First printing: Copper Canyon Press, 2008, identified by the publisher's number line on the copyright page. Note that Copper Canyon's line counts down to 2 on a first printing rather than to 1, so the lowest number present being 2 is the first-printing point; the line advances on later printings. Issued in cloth with dust jacket. US Copper Canyon Press (2008) is the true first edition. No book club edition. First printing shown by the number line bottoming out at 2; later printings raise that low number.

More Literary Fiction (US) & Award Winners shelves: Zadie Smith, Zora Neale Hurston, A. E. van Vogt, Adam Johnson, Adrienne Rich, Aimee Bender.

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