# Is "Poems: North & South — A Cold Spring" by Elizabeth Bishop a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Poems: North & South — A Cold Spring by Elizabeth Bishop (Houghton Mifflin, 1955) is identified by: Combines the 1946 North & South with the new 'A Cold Spring' section (seventeen added poems). US true first, and the 'first thus' for the 'A Cold Spring' poems — their first appearance in book form.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Combines the 1946 North & South with the new 'A Cold Spring' section (seventeen added poems)
- First printing of about 2,000 copies, so noted as a first printing on the copyright page
- Won the 1956 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
- Publisher imprint reads Houghton Mifflin
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Elizabeth Bishop |
| Publisher | Houghton Mifflin |
| Year | 1955 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Poetry |
| Key point | Combines the 1946 North & South with the new 'A Cold Spring' section (seventeen added poems) |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
Combines the 1946 North & South with the new 'A Cold Spring' section (seventeen added poems). First printing of about 2,000 copies, so noted as a first printing on the copyright page. Won the 1956 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry.

## Is this the true first?
US true first, and the 'first thus' for the 'A Cold Spring' poems — their first appearance in book form. Pulitzer winner.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No significant book-club edition. The trap is later printings lacking the first-printing statement on the copyright page.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Poems: North & South — A Cold Spring* by Elizabeth Bishop a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/poems-north-south-a-cold-spring
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.