# Is "The Dream Songs (77 Dream Songs)" by John Berryman a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Dream Songs (77 Dream Songs) by John Berryman (Farrar, Straus & Company, 1964) is identified by: '77 Dream Songs' won the 1965 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. US Farrar, Straus (1964) is the true first; the Faber (London) edition is the first English.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- '77 Dream Songs' won the 1965 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry
- First printing: Farrar, Straus and Company, 1964, with the first-printing line stated on the copyright page; in dust jacket designed by Marshall Lee
- Bibliographic reference Stefanik A11.1.a
- Publisher imprint reads Farrar, Straus & Company
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | John Berryman |
| Publisher | Farrar, Straus & Company |
| Year | 1964 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Poetry |
| Key point | '77 Dream Songs' won the 1965 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
'77 Dream Songs' won the 1965 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry. First printing: Farrar, Straus and Company, 1964, with the first-printing line stated on the copyright page; in dust jacket designed by Marshall Lee. Bibliographic reference Stefanik A11.1.a.

## Is this the true first?
US Farrar, Straus (1964) is the true first; the Faber (London) edition is the first English.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book club. Later printings drop the first-printing line. 'His Toy, His Dream, His Rest' (1968) and the combined 'The Dream Songs' (1969) are separate books.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Dream Songs (77 Dream Songs)* by John Berryman a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-dream-songs-77-dream-songs
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.