# Is "Seven Plays" by Sam Shepard a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Seven Plays by Sam Shepard (Bantam Books, 1981) is identified by: Bantam trade paperback wrappers, 1981 (earliest ISBN 0-553-23401-3), collecting Buried Child, Curse of the Starving Class, The Tooth of Crime, La Turista, Tongues, Savage Love, and True West, with the Richard Gilman introduction. First appearance of the Richard Gilman introduction.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Bantam trade paperback wrappers, 1981 (earliest ISBN 0-553-23401-3), collecting Buried Child, Curse of the Starving Class, The Tooth of Crime, La Turista, Tongues, Savage Love, and True West, with the Richard Gilman introduction
- Confirm the 1981 Bantam imprint and the original ISBN rather than a later reissue
- Publisher imprint reads Bantam Books
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Sam Shepard |
| Publisher | Bantam Books |
| Year | 1981 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Bantam trade paperback wrappers, 1981 (earliest ISBN 0-553-23401-3), collecting Buried… |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
Bantam trade paperback wrappers, 1981 (earliest ISBN 0-553-23401-3), collecting Buried Child, Curse of the Starving Class, The Tooth of Crime, La Turista, Tongues, Savage Love, and True West, with the Richard Gilman introduction. Confirm the 1981 Bantam imprint and the original ISBN rather than a later reissue.

## Is this the true first?
First appearance of the Richard Gilman introduction. True West appears here, but a Samuel French acting edition of True West also dates to 1981, so precedence for the first book appearance of that single play is not settled; treat the Gilman introduction as the reliably-first element.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book club edition identified for this collection.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Seven Plays* by Sam Shepard a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/seven-plays
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-03.