# Is "Ficciones" by Jorge Luis Borges (ed. & intro. Anthony Kerrigan; trans. Kerrigan, Bonner, Reid, Temple, Todd) a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Ficciones by Jorge Luis Borges (ed. & intro. Anthony Kerrigan; trans. Kerrigan, Bonner, Reid, Temple, Todd) (Grove Press, New York, 1962) is identified by: First complete English translation of Ficciones: Grove Press, New York, 1962, edited and introduced by Anthony Kerrigan, with translations by Kerrigan, Anthony Bonner, Alastair Reid, Helen Temple, and Ruthven Todd. True first of the work is the Spanish Ficciones (Editorial Sur, Buenos Aires, 1944; expanded by Emecé, Buenos Aires, 1956).

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First complete English translation of Ficciones: Grove Press, New York, 1962, edited and introduced by Anthony Kerrigan, with translations by Kerrigan, Anthony Bonner, Alastair Reid, Helen Temple, and Ruthven Todd
- Grove issued the first American edition simultaneously in two formats: the cloth hardcover in dust jacket (the preferred collecting issue) AND the Evergreen paperback (E-368), the latter also stating 'First Printing' on the copyright page — a legitimate simultaneous first issue in wrappers, not a reprint
- Verify the copyright-page 'First Printing' statement, and distinguish the first-printing Evergreen from later Evergreen printings (2nd, 3rd, etc.)
- Publisher imprint reads Grove Press, New York
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Jorge Luis Borges (ed. & intro. Anthony Kerrigan; trans. Kerrigan, Bonner, Reid, Temple, Todd) |
| Publisher | Grove Press, New York |
| Year | 1962 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First complete English translation of Ficciones: Grove Press, New York, 1962, edited and introduced by Anthony Kerrigan, with translations… |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
First complete English translation of Ficciones: Grove Press, New York, 1962, edited and introduced by Anthony Kerrigan, with translations by Kerrigan, Anthony Bonner, Alastair Reid, Helen Temple, and Ruthven Todd. Grove issued the first American edition simultaneously in two formats: the cloth hardcover in dust jacket (the preferred collecting issue) AND the Evergreen paperback (E-368), the latter also stating 'First Printing' on the copyright page — a legitimate simultaneous first issue in wrappers, not a reprint. Verify the copyright-page 'First Printing' statement, and distinguish the first-printing Evergreen from later Evergreen printings (2nd, 3rd, etc.).

## Is this the true first?
True first of the work is the Spanish Ficciones (Editorial Sur, Buenos Aires, 1944; expanded by Emecé, Buenos Aires, 1956). The 1962 Grove Press is the first English edition (US) and precedes the first UK edition (Weidenfeld & Nicolson, London, 1962), which followed and is commonly described as printed from the American sheets. The Grove appeared the same year as New Directions' Labyrinths (1962) — a different selection with different contents and different editors (Donald Yates and James Irby), not the same book.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Do not treat the Evergreen paperback as automatically 'not a first': the first-printing Evergreen (E-368) is a simultaneous first issue; only LATER Evergreen printings and subsequent editions are excluded. Cloth in jacket is the preferred collecting format. The UK Weidenfeld & Nicolson (1962) followed the US Grove.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Ficciones* by Jorge Luis Borges (ed. & intro. Anthony Kerrigan; trans. Kerrigan, Bonner, Reid, Temple, Todd) a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/ficciones
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.