# Is "Pictures from Brueghel and Other Poems" by William Carlos Williams a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Pictures from Brueghel and Other Poems by William Carlos Williams (New Directions, 1962) is identified by: New Directions first edition, 1962, first printing so stated, issued as a New Directions Paperbook in wrappers (NDP118). US true first; posthumous Pulitzer winner.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- New Directions first edition, 1962, first printing so stated, issued as a New Directions Paperbook in wrappers (NDP118)
- The wrappers issue is the true first form; there was no simultaneous New Directions cloth first
- Won the 1963 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, awarded posthumously (Williams died March 1963)
- Publisher imprint reads New Directions
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | William Carlos Williams |
| Publisher | New Directions |
| Year | 1962 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Poetry |
| Key point | New Directions first edition, 1962, first printing so stated, issued as a New Directions Paperbook in wrappers (NDP118) |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
New Directions first edition, 1962, first printing so stated, issued as a New Directions Paperbook in wrappers (NDP118). The wrappers issue is the true first form; there was no simultaneous New Directions cloth first. Won the 1963 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry, awarded posthumously (Williams died March 1963).

## Is this the true first?
US true first; posthumous Pulitzer winner. The 1962 New Directions issue is the original-wrappers paperbook. A New Directions clothbound state subtitled 'Collected Poems 1950–1962' did not appear until 1967, and a separate UK MacGibbon & Kee hardcover came in 1963; neither is the 1962 first.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club edition. The trap is treating the later 1967 New Directions clothbound state (or the 1963 UK hardcover) as the 1962 first; the genuine first is the 1962 wrappers paperbook.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Pictures from Brueghel and Other Poems* by William Carlos Williams a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/pictures-from-brueghel-and-other-poems
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.