# Is "Poems 1957-1967" by James Dickey a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Poems 1957-1967 by James Dickey (Wesleyan University Press, 1967) is identified by: Collected poems gathering work from his first four Wesleyan volumes plus new poems. US first; first-thus collected gathering.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Collected poems gathering work from his first four Wesleyan volumes plus new poems
- Per the Wesleyan first-printing convention, issued in cloth and in wrappers
- The cloth trade first printing dated 1967 is the standard collected first
- Publisher imprint reads Wesleyan University Press
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | James Dickey |
| Publisher | Wesleyan University Press |
| Year | 1967 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Poetry |
| Key point | Collected poems gathering work from his first four Wesleyan volumes plus new poems |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
Collected poems gathering work from his first four Wesleyan volumes plus new poems. Per the Wesleyan first-printing convention, issued in cloth and in wrappers. The cloth trade first printing dated 1967 is the standard collected first.

## Is this the true first?
US first; first-thus collected gathering. A small promotional miniature preview booklet (about 500 copies, largely blank pages with a short introduction) circulated to reviewers and booksellers but is a publicity dummy, not the readable text first edition.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club edition; the working distinction is cloth versus wrappers of the 1967 trade issue.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Poems 1957-1967* by James Dickey a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/poems-1957-1967
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.