# Is "The Collected Poems" by Sylvia Plath a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Collected Poems by Sylvia Plath (Harper & Row, 1981) is identified by: Edited by Ted Hughes; won the 1982 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry (awarded posthumously). The US Harper & Row issue (1981) is taken as the first; the UK Faber edition is concurrent in the same year.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Edited by Ted Hughes; won the 1982 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry (awarded posthumously)
- The US Harper & Row first printing
- states FIRST EDITION on the copyright page, accompanied by a complete descending number line
- The concurrent UK Faber edition is also 1981
- Publisher imprint reads Harper & Row
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Sylvia Plath |
| Publisher | Harper & Row |
| Year | 1981 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Poetry |
| Key point | Edited by Ted Hughes; won the 1982 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry (awarded posthumously) |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
Edited by Ted Hughes; won the 1982 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry (awarded posthumously). The US Harper & Row first printing (1981) states FIRST EDITION on the copyright page, accompanied by a complete descending number line. The concurrent UK Faber edition is also 1981.

## Is this the true first?
The US Harper & Row issue (1981) is taken as the first; the UK Faber edition is concurrent in the same year.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book club issue of note; later printings drop FIRST EDITION and advance the number line.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Collected Poems* by Sylvia Plath a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-collected-poems
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.