# Is "Portrait of an Eye: Three Novels" by Kathy Acker a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Portrait of an Eye: Three Novels by Kathy Acker (Pantheon Books, 1992) is identified by: First collected edition, issued in publisher's illustrated wrappers (paperback) as issued, with printed price. First collected edition 1992 Pantheon.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First collected edition, issued in publisher's illustrated wrappers (paperback) as issued, with printed price
- Collects 'The Childlike Life of the Black Tarantula,' 'I Dreamt I Was a Nymphomaniac,' and 'The Adult Life of Toulouse Lautrec.'
- Publisher imprint reads Pantheon Books
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Kathy Acker |
| Publisher | Pantheon Books |
| Year | 1992 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First collected edition, issued in publisher's illustrated wrappers (paperback) as issued, with printed price |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
First collected edition, issued in publisher's illustrated wrappers (paperback) as issued, with printed price. Collects 'The Childlike Life of the Black Tarantula,' 'I Dreamt I Was a Nymphomaniac,' and 'The Adult Life of Toulouse Lautrec.'

## Is this the true first?
First collected edition 1992 Pantheon. The three component novels were self-published in the mid-1970s (The Childlike Life of the Black Tarantula, 1973; I Dreamt I Was a Nymphomaniac, 1974; The Adult Life of Toulouse Lautrec, 1975) under small-press/serial imprints.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
None notable.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Portrait of an Eye: Three Novels* by Kathy Acker a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/portrait-of-an-eye-three-novels
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.