# Is "Diving into the Wreck" by Adrienne Rich a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Diving into the Wreck by Adrienne Rich (W. W. Norton, 1973) is identified by: Norton first edition (full title 'Diving into the Wreck: Poems 1971-1972'). US true first.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- W. W. Norton first edition (full title 'Diving into the Wreck: Poems 1971-1972')
- Issued simultaneously in cloth and in wrappers; the clothbound issue in dust jacket is the collector's form and is the scarcer of the two
- Contains the title poem 'Diving into the Wreck.' Won the 1974 National Book Award for Poetry, which Rich accepted jointly in the names of all women
- Publisher imprint reads W. W. Norton
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Adrienne Rich |
| Publisher | W. W. Norton |
| Year | 1973 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Poetry |
| Key point | W. W. Norton first edition (full title 'Diving into the Wreck: Poems 1971-1972') |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
W. W. Norton first edition (full title 'Diving into the Wreck: Poems 1971-1972'). Issued simultaneously in cloth and in wrappers; the clothbound issue in dust jacket is the collector's form and is the scarcer of the two. Contains the title poem 'Diving into the Wreck.' Won the 1974 National Book Award for Poetry, which Rich accepted jointly in the names of all women.

## Is this the true first?
US true first. Note the simultaneous hardcover and trade-paperback issue: the cloth copy in jacket is the collector's first.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club edition. The distinction to watch is the cloth first against the simultaneous trade-paperback issue.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Diving into the Wreck* by Adrienne Rich a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/diving-into-the-wreck
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.