Is My The Beautiful Changes and Other Poems a First Edition?

The points of issue

• The first edition is the Reynal & Hitchcock issue with a 1947-dated title page, small octavo, 55 pages, in a printed dust jacket
• ABAA dealers uniformly record a first printing of only 750 copies, and the book is catalogued as Field A.1 in John P. Field's Wilbur bibliography
• Reynal & Hitchcock carried no formal edition statement here, so identification rests on the imprint and date rather than on a printing line — any Harcourt, Brace imprint is by definition later
• CAUTION — cloth color is not reliably established: cataloguers variously describe the binding as light green cloth with dark green lettering, tan cloth, and cloth with blue lettering to the spine; treat binding color as unresolved and do not use it as a decisive point until a copy is collated against Field
• Jacket present and priced at the flap on unclipped copies; identification only

How Reynal & Hitchcock, New York marked a first edition

• For books published after 1947, defer to Harcourt, Brace & Co. identification points, since R&H was absorbed by Harcourt in 1948 and later issues of R&H titles carry Harcourt imprints/points.

Full Reynal & Hitchcock, New York first-edition guide →

How to verify your copy, step by step

1. Find the copyright page — the verso (back) of the title page.
2. Confirm the first-edition statement — look for “First Edition,” “First Printing,” or the publisher’s equivalent wording.
3. Check for a number line or dated printing — the lowest number present is the printing; a dated first printing with no later printings listed is the tell.
4. Verify this is the US true first — not a later-market or reprint edition.
5. Rule out a book-club edition — a blind-stamp on the rear board or a jacket with no printed price marks a book-club copy.
6. Photograph four things — the front cover, spine, title page, and copyright page — the standard record for identification.

The dust jacket

For a collectible first edition the dust jacket matters as much as the book. Confirm the jacket is present and unclipped — the printed price should still be at the corner of the flap (a clipped corner or a price-less flap can indicate a book-club issue). First-state jackets can differ from later ones in the cover art, blurbs, or review quotations; where a specific first-state jacket point is known for this title it is noted above.

Binding & format

Where multiple bindings exist, the hardcover trade issue is usually (but not always) the precedence copy — confirm against the points above. Later printings often show cheaper cloth, thinner boards, or simplified spine stamping. A simultaneous signed or limited issue, when one exists, is a distinct state from the trade first.

Is this the true first?

US only. Reynal & Hitchcock, New York, 1947 is the true first and the sole first edition — this was Wilbur's first book and no simultaneous or near-contemporaneous British edition was published. Wilbur's first UK book was the later Faber and Faber (London) collection Poems 1943-1956, in 1957, which is a separate selected volume and not an edition of The Beautiful Changes. The census claim of US-only precedence is confirmed.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club edition documented for this title. The principal reprint trap is the Harcourt, Brace and Company issue: Harcourt acquired Reynal & Hitchcock and brought out the first reprinting — an undated printing of roughly 1,000 copies from August 1954, recorded in blue cloth (Field A.1.[1.2]). Any copy bearing the Harcourt, Brace imprint, or an undated title page, is the 1954 second printing and not the first.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Beautiful Changes and Other Poems a first edition?

A first edition of The Beautiful Changes and Other Poems by Richard Wilbur (Reynal & Hitchcock, New York) is identified by: The first edition is the Reynal & Hitchcock issue with a 1947-dated title page, small octavo, 55 pages, in a printed dust jacket; ABAA dealers uniformly record a first printing of only 750 copies, and the book is catalogued as Field A.1 in John P.

How do I tell the first printing from a later one?

Check the copyright page. A stated first edition, a number line ending in 1, or a dated first printing with no later printings listed is the key. US only.

Is the book-club edition the same as the first?

No book-club edition documented for this title. The principal reprint trap is the Harcourt, Brace and Company issue: Harcourt acquired Reynal & Hitchcock and brought out the first reprinting — an undated printing of roughly 1,000 copies from August 1954, recorded in blue cloth (Field A.1.[1.2]). Any copy bearing the Harcourt, Brace imprint, or an undated title page, is the 1954 second printing and not the first.

I have a first edition of The Beautiful Changes and Other Poems — what should I do?

First, document the copy: photograph the copyright page (the number line and any edition statement) and the dust-jacket flap — an unclipped, priced jacket matters. Confirm the points of issue above against your copy, and use the free First Edition Checker to decode the printing. To sell, the author’s collecting guide covers the market. And if you are clearing books in the Albuquerque area, the New Mexico Literacy Project offers free pickup, any condition, and makes sure collectible copies are identified rather than discarded.

Glossary

First edition

Every copy printed from the first setting of type. Collectors usually want the first edition, first printing (the true first).

First printing / impression

A single press run from that setting. The first printing is the earliest and most desirable; later printings are still the first edition but not the true first.

Number line (printer's key)

A row of numbers on the copyright page (e.g. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1). The lowest number present is the printing — a line including 1 marks a first printing (Random House deliberately ends at 2).

Points of issue

Specific physical details — a stated edition, a number line, a typo, a jacket state — that identify the true first printing.

Book-club edition (BCE)

A reprint made for a book club. Tells include a blind-stamped dot or square on the rear board and a dust jacket with no printed price. Not the true first.

First thus

The first appearance of a particular version (first paperback, first illustrated, first U.S. printing) — a first of that kind, not the first edition of the work.