# Is "The Collected Poems of Wallace Stevens" by Wallace Stevens a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Collected Poems of Wallace Stevens by Wallace Stevens (Alfred A. Knopf, 1954) is identified by: First edition, issued for Stevens's seventy-fifth birthday and awarded the Pulitzer Prize; the volume was published in a limited, unsigned numbered edition of 2,500 copies. US Knopf first edition; the numbered limitation of 2,500 unsigned copies identifies the true first.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First edition, issued for Stevens's seventy-fifth birthday and awarded the Pulitzer Prize; the volume was published in a limited, unsigned numbered edition of 2,500 copies
- First-printing copies are bound in maroon-brown cloth with a yellow topstain and carry the Sylvia Salmi frontispiece photograph; later printings appear in different-colored cloth
- Publisher imprint reads Alfred A. Knopf
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Wallace Stevens |
| Publisher | Alfred A. Knopf |
| Year | 1954 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First edition, issued for Stevens's seventy-fifth birthday and awarded the Pulitzer… |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
First edition, issued for Stevens's seventy-fifth birthday and awarded the Pulitzer Prize; the volume was published in a limited, unsigned numbered edition of 2,500 copies. First-printing copies are bound in maroon-brown cloth with a yellow topstain and carry the Sylvia Salmi frontispiece photograph; later printings appear in different-colored cloth.

## Is this the true first?
US Knopf first edition; the numbered limitation of 2,500 unsigned copies identifies the true first. Genuinely author-signed copies are famously rare.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book club edition.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Collected Poems of Wallace Stevens* by Wallace Stevens a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-collected-poems-of-wallace-stevens
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-03.