Is My Calling Out to Yeti (Wołanie do Yeti) a First Edition?

The points of issue

• The true first is a slim softcover in wrappers (broszura) — issued not in a dust jacket over boards but as a glued/stapled paperback, roughly 12 x 20 cm, collating 51, [2] pages
• The defining identification points are the standalone imprint "Wydawnictwo Literackie, Kraków, 1957" and, on the colophon, the state-era print statement of a very small run: antiquarian copies confirm "nakład 1135 egz." (a print run of just 1,135 copies), which is the single most telling scarcity point
• No "wydanie drugie" or later-printing line should appear
• Copies are often encountered "częściowo nierozcięty" (partially unopened/uncut at the fore-edge), consistent with period softcovers, but this is a condition trait rather than a printing distinction — do not treat trimming alone as proof of a later state

How to confirm the first-printing statement

Publishers stated first printings differently by era. The decisive tells are a printed “First Edition/First Printing” statement, a number line whose lowest number is 1 (Random House ends at 2), or a dated first printing with no later printings listed. Paste your copyright page into the number-line decoder.

How to verify your copy, step by step

1. Find the copyright page — the verso (back) of the title page.
2. Check for a number line or dated printing — the lowest number present is the printing; a dated first printing with no later printings listed is the tell.
3. Rule out a book-club edition — a blind-stamp on the rear board or a jacket with no printed price marks a book-club copy.
4. Photograph four things — the front cover, spine, title page, and copyright page — the standard record for identification.

The dust jacket

For a collectible first edition the dust jacket matters as much as the book. Confirm the jacket is present and unclipped — the printed price should still be at the corner of the flap (a clipped corner or a price-less flap can indicate a book-club issue). First-state jackets can differ from later ones in the cover art, blurbs, or review quotations; where a specific first-state jacket point is known for this title it is noted above.

Binding & format

Where multiple bindings exist, the hardcover trade issue is usually (but not always) the precedence copy — confirm against the points above. Later printings often show cheaper cloth, thinner boards, or simplified spine stamping. A simultaneous signed or limited issue, when one exists, is a distinct state from the trade first.

Is this the true first?

The true first edition is the 1957 Polish Wołanie do Yeti (Wydawnictwo Literackie, Kraków) — Szymborska's third book but her acknowledged mature debut, the volume in which she broke from Socialist Realism, containing signature poems including "Nic dwa razy" ("Nothing Twice"). There is no first-edition novel to chase; her canon is her poetry. The FIRST English-language book of her poetry is Sounds, Feelings, Thoughts: Seventy Poems, translated and introduced by Magnus J. Krynski and Robert A. Maguire (Princeton University Press, 1981; bilingual, Lockert Library of Poetry in Translation) — this, not the more famous later selection, is the true first in English. The book that drove her Anglophone fame just before the 1996 Nobel is View with a Grain of Sand: Selected Poems, translated by Stanisław Barańczak and Clare Cavanagh, preface by Mark Strand (Harcourt Brace, 1995) — the most-collected English title, but a 1995 selection, not the first English appearance.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No U.S./U.K. book-club (BOMC-style) edition exists for the 1957 Polish first — the relevant traps are printing-generation and edition confusion, not a book-club reprint. Wołanie do Yeti was reprinted many times in Poland and reappears within later collected/selected volumes (e.g. Poezje wybrane, Wiersze wybrane), so confirm the standalone 1957 Wydawnictwo Literackie imprint and the tiny stated print run; any copy citing a later year or a "wydanie" beyond the first is a reprint. Note one unreliable attribution circulating in trade listings: at least one antiquarian description mis-assigns this title to "PIW, Warszawa" with a cover credited to "Zofia Włodarczyk" — Polish Wikipedia and the standard record give Wydawnictwo Literackie, Kraków, so treat the PIW/cover-designer claim as unverified. On the English side, the common trap is assuming View with a Grain of Sand (1995) is the first English book; the 1981 Princeton Sounds, Feelings, Thoughts precedes it. The 1995 Harcourt hardcover first is identified by the "Harcourt Brace & Company" imprint (ISBN 0-15-100153-7) and a full number line ending in 1 — distinct from the later trade paperback (ISBN 0-15-600216-7).

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Calling Out to Yeti (Wołanie do Yeti) a first edition?

A first edition of Calling Out to Yeti (Wołanie do Yeti) by Wisława Szymborska (Wydawnictwo Literackie) is identified by: The true first is a slim softcover in wrappers (broszura) — issued not in a dust jacket over boards but as a glued/stapled paperback, roughly 12 x 20 cm, collating 51, [2] pages.

How do I tell the first printing from a later one?

Check the copyright page. A stated first edition, a number line ending in 1, or a dated first printing with no later printings listed is the key. The true first edition is the 1957 Polish Wołanie do Yeti (Wydawnictwo Literackie, Kraków) — Szymborska's third book but her acknowledged mature debut, the volume in which she broke from Socialist Realism, containing signature poems including "Nic dwa razy" ("Nothing Twice").

Is the book-club edition the same as the first?

No U.S./U.K. book-club (BOMC-style) edition exists for the 1957 Polish first — the relevant traps are printing-generation and edition confusion, not a book-club reprint. Wołanie do Yeti was reprinted many times in Poland and reappears within later collected/selected volumes (e.g. Poezje wybrane, Wiersze wybrane), so confirm the standalone 1957 Wydawnictwo Literackie imprint and the tiny stated print run; any copy citing a later year or a "wydanie" beyond the first is a reprint. Note one unreliab

I have a first edition of Calling Out to Yeti (Wołanie do Yeti) — what should I do?

First, document the copy: photograph the copyright page (the number line and any edition statement) and the dust-jacket flap — an unclipped, priced jacket matters. Confirm the points of issue above against your copy, and use the free First Edition Checker to decode the printing. To sell, the author’s collecting guide covers the market. And if you are clearing books in the Albuquerque area, the New Mexico Literacy Project offers free pickup, any condition, and makes sure collectible copies are identified rather than discarded.

Glossary

First edition

Every copy printed from the first setting of type. Collectors usually want the first edition, first printing (the true first).

First printing / impression

A single press run from that setting. The first printing is the earliest and most desirable; later printings are still the first edition but not the true first.

Number line (printer's key)

A row of numbers on the copyright page (e.g. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1). The lowest number present is the printing — a line including 1 marks a first printing (Random House deliberately ends at 2).

Points of issue

Specific physical details — a stated edition, a number line, a typo, a jacket state — that identify the true first printing.

Book-club edition (BCE)

A reprint made for a book club. Tells include a blind-stamped dot or square on the rear board and a dust jacket with no printed price. Not the true first.

First thus

The first appearance of a particular version (first paperback, first illustrated, first U.S. printing) — a first of that kind, not the first edition of the work.