Is My Desolación (Desolación: Poemas) a First Edition?

The points of issue

• The true first is the New York, 1922 printing bearing the imprint of the Instituto de las Españas en los Estados Unidos (Columbia University's Hispanic Institute), arranged for publication by Federico de Onís after his 1921 Columbia lecture on Mistral; the title-page/colophon names Carranza & Company, Inc. of New York as printer — a first-issue tell, since Mistral's debut book was issued in the United States, not Chile
• It is an octavo of 248 pages (with a publisher's list at the rear) opening with the "Palabras preliminares" signed by the Instituto de las Españas, and it gathers seven sections: five in verse — "Vida," "La Escuela," "Infantiles," "Dolor," and "Naturaleza" — plus two in prose, "Poemas en prosa" and "Cuentos." That contents arrangement is specific to the 1922 first: the 1923 Nascimento (Santiago) edition was enlarged and revised, so a differing or expanded table of contents signals a later edition, not the New York first
• Original binding is the least reliable point: dealer/library records disagree (some copies are described in full leather, others in boards/wrappers), and any full-leather copy may be a later private rebind, so binding is not decisive — confirm by the imprint and contents, not the cover
• Inscribed copies exist, as Mistral inscribed a number of early copies

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 Spanish-language Desolación, Instituto de las Españas en los Estados Unidos, New York, 1922 (printed by Carranza & Co.) — notable because Chile's national poet's first book appeared in New York rather than Santiago. The first Chilean edition (Editorial Nascimento, Santiago, 1923) is an enlarged/revised, textually altered edition, not the first. The first English-language appearance in book form is Selected Poems of Gabriela Mistral, translated with an introduction by Langston Hughes (Indiana University Press, Bloomington, 1957) — commissioned in 1956 and issued the year of her death; Hughes stated no one had made a volume of Mistral's poems in English in the preceding thirty-odd years. It is frequently confused with the fuller bilingual Selected Poems of Gabriela Mistral translated and edited by her literary executor Doris Dana, with woodcuts by Antonio Frasconi (Johns Hopkins Press, Baltimore, 1971), which is later; Ursula K. Le Guin's Selected Poems of Gabriela Mistral (University of New Mexico Press, 2003) is later still.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No significant book-club edition of Desolación exists in either Spanish or English — its collecting market is defined by the scarce 1922 New York first and the 1923 (and later) Nascimento Chilean editions, not club reprints. The trap here is not a book club but conflating editions: (1) mistaking the 1923 or a later Santiago (Nascimento) printing for the 1922 New York first; (2) treating the 2022 Columbia University Press centenary edition or modern Spanish reprints as early; and (3) assuming the 1971 Doris Dana bilingual Selected Poems is the first English rather than the 1957 Langston Hughes volume. Confirm the "Instituto de las Españas / New York / 1922" imprint (and Carranza & Co. printer) to secure the true first.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Desolación (Desolación: Poemas) a first edition?

A first edition of Desolación (Desolación: Poemas) by Gabriela Mistral (Instituto de las Españas en los Estados Unidos) is identified by: The true first is the New York, 1922 printing bearing the imprint of the Instituto de las Españas en los Estados Unidos (Columbia University's Hispanic Institute), arranged for publication by Federico de Onís after his 1921 Columbia lecture on Mistral; the title-page/colophon names Carranza & Company, Inc.

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 Spanish-language Desolación, Instituto de las Españas en los Estados Unidos, New York, 1922 (printed by Carranza & Co.) — notable because Chile's national poet's first book appeared in New York rather than Santiago.

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

No significant book-club edition of Desolación exists in either Spanish or English — its collecting market is defined by the scarce 1922 New York first and the 1923 (and later) Nascimento Chilean editions, not club reprints. The trap here is not a book club but conflating editions: (1) mistaking the 1923 or a later Santiago (Nascimento) printing for the 1922 New York first; (2) treating the 2022 Columbia University Press centenary edition or modern Spanish reprints as early; and (3) assuming the

I have a first edition of Desolación (Desolación: Poemas) — 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.