# Is "The Back Country" by Gary Snyder a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Back Country by Gary Snyder (New Directions, 1968) is identified by: New Directions first US edition, 1968, first printing so stated; issued in cloth and in wrappers. The true first is the UK Fulcrum Press edition (London, 1967); the US New Directions edition (1968) follows and is textually expanded.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- New Directions first US edition, 1968, first printing so stated; issued in cloth and in wrappers
- The London Fulcrum Press hardcover (1967, beige cloth) precedes it; the four-section structure (Western mountain country
- India; return to the West) is the same, but the US New Directions edition adds further poems and a section of Miyazawa Kenji translations not in the Fulcrum text, so contents differ
- Publisher imprint reads New Directions
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Gary Snyder |
| Publisher | New Directions |
| Year | 1968 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Poetry |
| Key point | New Directions first US edition, 1968, first printing so stated; issued in cloth and in wrappers |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
New Directions first US edition, 1968, first printing so stated; issued in cloth and in wrappers. The London Fulcrum Press hardcover (1967, beige cloth) precedes it; the four-section structure (Western mountain country; Japan; India; return to the West) is the same, but the US New Directions edition adds further poems and a section of Miyazawa Kenji translations not in the Fulcrum text, so contents differ.

## Is this the true first?
The true first is the UK Fulcrum Press edition (London, 1967); the US New Directions edition (1968) follows and is textually expanded. Which is 'wanted' depends on the goal: Fulcrum for absolute priority, New Directions for the fuller authorized text.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club edition is the issue here. The real crux is UK Fulcrum (1967, true first) vs US New Directions (1968, expanded), and within New Directions, cloth vs wrappers.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Back Country* by Gary Snyder a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-back-country
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.