# Is "Collected Poems 1957-1982" by Wendell Berry a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Collected Poems 1957-1982 by Wendell Berry (North Point Press, 1985) is identified by: North Point Press (San Francisco) first printing, 1985, cited in the Freedman bibliography as A52b. First edition of this compilation (first thus).

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- North Point Press (San Francisco) first printing, 1985, cited in the Freedman bibliography as A52b
- Issued simultaneously in two forms: a cloth hardcover (maroon cloth boards, gilt lettering to the spine) in a dust jacket, and a trade-paperback wrappers issue
- 268 pages, measuring roughly 5 the printed price by 8 the printed price inches
- North Point did not use a number line on this title, so first-printing status rests on the North Point imprint, the 1985 copyright, and the absence of any later-printing statement
- On the cloth issue the first-state dust jacket should retain its printed price on the front flap (a price-clipped flap does not by itself unmake a first)
- Publisher imprint reads North Point Press
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Wendell Berry |
| Publisher | North Point Press |
| Year | 1985 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | North Point Press (San Francisco) first printing, 1985, cited in the Freedman… |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
North Point Press (San Francisco) first printing, 1985, cited in the Freedman bibliography as A52b. Issued simultaneously in two forms: a cloth hardcover (maroon cloth boards, gilt lettering to the spine) in a dust jacket, and a trade-paperback wrappers issue. 268 pages, measuring roughly 5 the printed price by 8 the printed price inches. North Point did not use a number line on this title, so first-printing status rests on the North Point imprint, the 1985 copyright, and the absence of any later-printing statement. On the cloth issue the first-state dust jacket should retain its printed price on the front flap (a price-clipped flap does not by itself unmake a first).

## Is this the true first?
First edition of this compilation (first thus). Nearly two hundred poems selected from the eight earlier collections, some retitled, abridged, or lightly revised; not a first appearance of the individual poems.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club edition was issued. North Point printed both the maroon cloth-in-jacket hardcover and a wrappers issue in 1985; the cloth-in-jacket copy is the preferred collectible form. Later printings and the subsequent Counterpoint reissue are reprints, not the North Point first.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Collected Poems 1957-1982* by Wendell Berry a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/collected-poems-1957-1982
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-03.