# Is "The Grand Hotels (of Joseph Cornell)" by Robert Coover a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Grand Hotels (of Joseph Cornell) by Robert Coover (Burning Deck, 2002) is identified by: Issued by Burning Deck in 2002 in three simultaneous states from a total edition of 1250: a paperback in wraps, an unsigned cloth hardcover, and a signed cloth hardcover limited to 50 copies. True first is the 2002 Burning Deck edition.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Issued by Burning Deck in 2002 in three simultaneous states from a total edition of 1250: a paperback in wraps, an unsigned cloth hardcover, and a signed cloth hardcover limited to 50 copies
- The hardcover states, not the wraps, represent the higher first-edition issue
- A slim volume of poetic prose vignettes derived from Joseph Cornell's assemblages
- Publisher imprint reads Burning Deck
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Robert Coover |
| Publisher | Burning Deck |
| Year | 2002 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Issued by Burning Deck in 2002 in three simultaneous states from a total edition of 1250: a paperback in wraps, an unsigned cloth… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
Issued by Burning Deck in 2002 in three simultaneous states from a total edition of 1250: a paperback in wraps, an unsigned cloth hardcover, and a signed cloth hardcover limited to 50 copies. The hardcover states, not the wraps, represent the higher first-edition issue. A slim volume of poetic prose vignettes derived from Joseph Cornell's assemblages.

## Is this the true first?
True first is the 2002 Burning Deck edition. The original record described only the paperback wraps; in fact cloth hardcover states (including a signed issue of 50) were published the same year and are the senior issue. Five of the texts appeared earlier in the anthology A Convergence of Birds (D.A.P., 2001), so that anthology holds the first appearance of those pieces.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
None notable.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Grand Hotels (of Joseph Cornell)* by Robert Coover a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-grand-hotels-of-joseph-cornell
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.