# Is "One Arm and Other Stories" by Tennessee Williams a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of One Arm and Other Stories by Tennessee Williams (New Directions, 1948) is identified by: The edition comprises 50 deluxe copies printed on Virgil paper and signed by Williams on the limitation leaf, plus 1,500 regular copies on specially made laid paper (roughly 1,550 total). The true first is the 1948 New Directions first printing.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- New Directions, 1948
- The edition comprises 50 deluxe copies printed on Virgil paper and signed by Williams on the limitation leaf, plus 1,500 regular copies on specially made laid paper (roughly 1,550 total)
- The key point of issue is the copyright state of the title leaf: the earliest copies (only about twenty are thought to survive) carry an uncorrected title page crediting the copyright to New Directions; nearly all copies were corrected with a cancel (inserted) title leaf assigning copyright to Williams, which delayed release into early 1949
- Quarter cloth over patterned boards, dust jacket, in slipcase
- Williams's first story collection, originally distributed cautiously because of the content
- Publisher imprint reads New Directions
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Tennessee Williams |
| Publisher | New Directions |
| Year | 1948 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | New Directions, 1948 |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
New Directions, 1948. The edition comprises 50 deluxe copies printed on Virgil paper and signed by Williams on the limitation leaf, plus 1,500 regular copies on specially made laid paper (roughly 1,550 total). The key point of issue is the copyright state of the title leaf: the earliest copies (only about twenty are thought to survive) carry an uncorrected title page crediting the copyright to New Directions; nearly all copies were corrected with a cancel (inserted) title leaf assigning copyright to Williams, which delayed release into early 1949. Quarter cloth over patterned boards, dust jacket, in slipcase. Williams's first story collection, originally distributed cautiously because of the content.

## Is this the true first?
The true first is the 1948 New Directions first printing. Within it, the 50 signed copies on Virgil paper are the deluxe issue and the 1,500 laid-paper copies are the regular issue; both belong to the same first printing. The earliest and most desirable state is the uncorrected title leaf crediting copyright to New Directions (before the cancel).

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book club. Both the signed deluxe and the regular copies are part of the single first printing; the meaningful distinction is the uncorrected versus cancel (corrected) title leaf, not a separate later trade issue.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *One Arm and Other Stories* by Tennessee Williams a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/one-arm-and-other-stories
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-03.