# Is "The Age of Anxiety" by W. H. Auden a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Age of Anxiety by W. H. Auden (Random House, 1947) is identified by: Won the 1948 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. The US Random House issue (1947) is the true first, ahead of the UK Faber issue (1948).

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Won the 1948 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
- The US Random House issue
- precedes the UK Faber issue
- First printing carries the Random House imprint with no later-printing statement; green boards lettered in gilt on the spine
- Bloomfield and Mendelson A29; the first printing comprised 3,500 copies
- Publisher imprint reads Random House
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | W. H. Auden |
| Publisher | Random House |
| Year | 1947 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Poetry |
| Key point | Won the 1948 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
Won the 1948 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. The US Random House issue (1947) precedes the UK Faber issue (1948). First printing carries the Random House imprint with no later-printing statement; green boards lettered in gilt on the spine. Bloomfield and Mendelson A29; the first printing comprised 3,500 copies.

## Is this the true first?
The US Random House issue (1947) is the true first, ahead of the UK Faber issue (1948).

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book club issue of note; the UK Faber edition is the first English edition but not the true first.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Age of Anxiety* by W. H. Auden a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-age-of-anxiety
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.