Is My The Branch Will Not Break a First Edition?

The points of issue

• First printing is identified by Wesleyan University Press house practice, corroborated by three independent identification guides: the copyright page of a first states either 'First Edition' or 'First Printing', and subsequent printings are noted on the copyright page — so any copy carrying a later-printing note is not a first
• Issued simultaneously in cloth and in wrappers, and both are collected as first-printing issues
• The cloth issue is bound in gray cloth and belongs in its dust jacket, unclipped with the price present at the front flap; the wrappers issue was issued without a jacket and should not be mistaken for a later paperback reprint
• Collates 59 pp., 21 cm; published 15 May 1963 in the Wesleyan Poetry Series
• Wright's transitional volume, departing from the formal style of his earlier books

How Wesleyan University Press, Middletown CT marked a first edition

• DISTINCTIVE older tell: pre-1980s Wesleyan books often carry a numeral in parentheses or brackets at the FOOT OF THE LAST PAGE — '(1)' = first printing, '(2)' = second printing, etc. — sometimes in place of a copyright-p…

Full Wesleyan University Press, Middletown CT 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. Middletown, Connecticut: Wesleyan University Press, 1963. No British first edition of the collection is recorded. First thus traps: the poems are reset in Wright's Collected Poems (Wesleyan, 1971) and in Above the River: The Complete Poems (1990); Wesleyan has also kept the title continuously in print under ISBN 0819510181, so copies bearing that ISBN in commerce are late printings, not firsts.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club edition documented. The practical confusion is the simultaneous first-printing wrappers issue versus the many later Wesleyan paperback printings of the same title — these are separated by the printing note Wesleyan adds to the copyright page on subsequent printings, not by binding format.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Branch Will Not Break a first edition?

A first edition of The Branch Will Not Break by James Wright (Wesleyan University Press, Middletown CT) is identified by: First printing is identified by Wesleyan University Press house practice, corroborated by three independent identification guides: the copyright page of a first states either 'First Edition' or 'First Printing', and subsequent printings are noted on the copyright page — so any copy carrying a later-printing note is not a first.

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. The practical confusion is the simultaneous first-printing wrappers issue versus the many later Wesleyan paperback printings of the same title — these are separated by the printing note Wesleyan adds to the copyright page on subsequent printings, not by binding format.

I have a first edition of The Branch Will Not Break — 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.