# Is "Calling Out to Yeti (Wołanie do Yeti)" by Wisława Szymborska a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Calling Out to Yeti (Wołanie do Yeti) by Wisława Szymborska (Wydawnictwo Literackie, 1957) 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. 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").

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- 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
- Publisher imprint reads Wydawnictwo Literackie
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Wisława Szymborska |
| Publisher | Wydawnictwo Literackie |
| Year | 1957 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Poetry |
| Key point | The true first is a slim softcover in wrappers (broszura) — issued not in a dust jacket over boards but as a glued/stapled paperback… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## 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.

## 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).

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Calling Out to Yeti (Wołanie do Yeti)* by Wisława Szymborska a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/calling-out-to-yeti
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.