# Is "Improvement" by Joan Silber a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Improvement by Joan Silber (Counterpoint, 2017) is identified by: First edition, first printing, identified by a full number line descending to 1 on the copyright page under the Counterpoint imprint (Berkeley, 2017). The US Counterpoint hardcover of 2017 is the true first.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First edition, first printing, identified by a full number line descending to 1 on the copyright page under the Counterpoint imprint (Berkeley, 2017)
- The dust jacket carries the publisher's printed price on the flap; confirm the printed price is present rather than citing any amount
- Publisher imprint reads Counterpoint
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Joan Silber |
| Publisher | Counterpoint |
| Year | 2017 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First edition, first printing, identified by a full number line descending to 1 on the copyright page under the Counterpoint imprint… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
First edition, first printing, identified by a full number line descending to 1 on the copyright page under the Counterpoint imprint (Berkeley, 2017). The dust jacket carries the publisher's printed price on the flap; confirm the printed price is present rather than citing any amount.

## Is this the true first?
The US Counterpoint hardcover of 2017 is the true first. It won both the 2018 PEN/Faulkner Award for Fiction and the National Book Critics Circle Award for Fiction.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No major book-club issue identified; confirm the Counterpoint first-printing number line descending to 1 on the copyright page.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Improvement* by Joan Silber a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/improvement
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.