# Is "Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror" by John Ashbery a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror by John Ashbery (Viking Press, 1975) is identified by: Viking Press first edition, 1975, in quarter blue cloth over olive/greenish-brown paper-covered boards lettered in green on the spine, in dust jacket priced on the front flap. US true first in cloth.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Viking Press first edition, 1975, in quarter blue cloth over olive/greenish-brown paper-covered boards lettered in green on the spine, in dust jacket priced on the front flap
- The cloth hardcover is the true first; reportedly about 3,500 copies
- Swept the 1976 Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award, and National Book Critics Circle Award (the rare triple)
- Publisher imprint reads Viking Press
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | John Ashbery |
| Publisher | Viking Press |
| Year | 1975 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Poetry |
| Key point | Viking Press first edition, 1975, in quarter blue cloth over olive/greenish-brown paper-covered boards lettered in green on the spine, in… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
Viking Press first edition, 1975, in quarter blue cloth over olive/greenish-brown paper-covered boards lettered in green on the spine, in dust jacket priced on the front flap. The cloth hardcover is the true first; reportedly about 3,500 copies. Swept the 1976 Pulitzer Prize, National Book Award, and National Book Critics Circle Award (the rare triple).

## Is this the true first?
US true first in cloth. The paperback editions are NOT simultaneous: a Penguin paperback (US) and a Carcanet Press edition (UK) followed in 1976. There was no concurrent 1975 trade-paperback issue to distinguish from the cloth.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club edition. Correction: the original record's 'simultaneous Viking Compass paperback' could not be verified and appears inaccurate; the paperbacks (Penguin US, Carcanet UK) appeared the following year, 1975.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Self-Portrait in a Convex Mirror* by John Ashbery a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/self-portrait-in-a-convex-mirror
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.