# Is "Spring and All" by William Carlos Williams a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Spring and All by William Carlos Williams (Contact Publishing Company, 1923) is identified by: Contact Publishing Co. True first (Contact Publishing Co., 1923) and one of the scarcest modernist firsts, at roughly 300 copies; the first book appearance of 'The Red Wheelbarrow.'

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- (Robert McAlmon's imprint), 1923, printed at Dijon by Maurice Darantière; an edition of about 300 copies in publisher's gray-blue wrappers
- Contains 'The Red Wheelbarrow' (as poem XXII)
- Notoriously scarce, in part because many copies shipped to America were seized by US customs
- Publisher imprint reads Contact Publishing Company
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | William Carlos Williams |
| Publisher | Contact Publishing Company |
| Year | 1923 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Poetry |
| Key point | (Robert McAlmon's imprint), 1923, printed at Dijon by Maurice Darantière; an edition of about 300 copies in publisher's gray-blue wrappers |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
Contact Publishing Co. (Robert McAlmon's imprint), 1923, printed at Dijon by Maurice Darantière; an edition of about 300 copies in publisher's gray-blue wrappers. Contains 'The Red Wheelbarrow' (as poem XXII). Notoriously scarce, in part because many copies shipped to America were seized by US customs.

## Is this the true first?
True first (Contact Publishing Co., 1923) and one of the scarcest modernist firsts, at roughly 300 copies; the first book appearance of 'The Red Wheelbarrow.'

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club edition; the crux is the rarity of the 1923 Contact wrappers versus much later reprints and the 2011 New Directions facsimile.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Spring and All* by William Carlos Williams a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/spring-and-all
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.