# Is "Mortal Acts, Mortal Words" by Galway Kinnell a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Mortal Acts, Mortal Words by Galway Kinnell (Houghton Mifflin, 1980) is identified by: First printing stated on the copyright page with no added later-printing line; clothbound in dust jacket with the original price intact. The US Houghton Mifflin 1980 clothbound edition is the true first.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First printing stated on the copyright page with no added later-printing line; clothbound in dust jacket with the original price intact
- Cloth ISBN 0395291259; a simultaneous wrappers issue (ISBN 0395291267) also exists, with the cloth being the collector's first
- Publisher imprint reads Houghton Mifflin
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Galway Kinnell |
| Publisher | Houghton Mifflin |
| Year | 1980 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Poetry |
| Key point | First printing stated on the copyright page with no added later-printing line; clothbound in dust jacket with the original price intact |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
First printing stated on the copyright page with no added later-printing line; clothbound in dust jacket with the original price intact. Cloth ISBN 0395291259; a simultaneous wrappers issue (ISBN 0395291267) also exists, with the cloth being the collector's first.

## Is this the true first?
The US Houghton Mifflin 1980 clothbound edition is the true first. This is the source volume for poems later gathered in the 1982 Selected Poems.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Later printings carry an added printing statement; the jacket is otherwise unchanged. Do not confuse the wrappers issue with the cloth first.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Mortal Acts, Mortal Words* by Galway Kinnell a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/mortal-acts-mortal-words
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.