# Is "Delights & Shadows" by Ted Kooser a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Delights & Shadows by Ted Kooser (Copper Canyon Press, 2004) is identified by: Won the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry; Kooser was US Poet Laureate. The US Copper Canyon trade paperback (2004) is the trade first edition.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Won the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
- Kooser was US Poet Laureate
- The first edition was published by Copper Canyon Press in 2004 as a trade paperback original (ISBN 1556592019)
- A separate clothbound issue exists as a signed, limited edition of 250 numbered copies
- Publisher imprint reads Copper Canyon Press
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Ted Kooser |
| Publisher | Copper Canyon Press |
| Year | 2004 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Poetry |
| Key point | Won the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
Won the 2005 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry; Kooser was US Poet Laureate. The first edition was published by Copper Canyon Press in 2004 as a trade paperback original (ISBN 1556592019). A separate clothbound issue exists as a signed, limited edition of 250 numbered copies.

## Is this the true first?
The US Copper Canyon trade paperback (2004) is the trade first edition. The clothbound printing is a limited signed edition of 250 copies rather than a general hardcover issue.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book club edition.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Delights & Shadows* by Ted Kooser a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/delights-shadows
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.