# Is "The Green Wall" by James Wright a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Green Wall by James Wright (Yale University Press, New Haven, 1957) is identified by: True first is the Yale University Press printing of 1957, issued as Volume 53 in the Yale Series of Younger Poets with a foreword by W. US only, and the census claim is confirmed.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- True first is the Yale University Press printing of 1957, issued as Volume 53 in the Yale Series of Younger Poets with a foreword by W. H. Auden, collating xix + 93 pp
- Yale's documented practice from 1930 to 1985 was to print the publication date on the title page only in the case of a first printing; a reprint instead states the date of first publication on the copyright page and lists the reprintings
- A first printing therefore shows 1957 on the title page and carries nothing on the copyright page beyond the copyright line
- Binding is off-white patterned paper over boards, the spine stamped in gilt over brown
- The jacket should be priced at the flap, and per Between the Covers it must lack the 'Second Printing' notice that Yale added to the front flap of the second-printing jacket; first-printing books are sometimes found in later jackets, so book and jacket must be checked separately
- Publisher imprint reads Yale University Press, New Haven
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | James Wright |
| Publisher | Yale University Press, New Haven |
| Year | 1957 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Poetry |
| Key point | True first is the Yale University Press printing of 1957, issued as Volume 53 in the Yale Series of Younger Poets with a foreword by W. H.… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
True first is the Yale University Press printing of 1957, issued as Volume 53 in the Yale Series of Younger Poets with a foreword by W. H. Auden, collating xix + 93 pp. Yale's documented practice from 1930 to 1985 was to print the publication date on the title page only in the case of a first printing; a reprint instead states the date of first publication on the copyright page and lists the reprintings. A first printing therefore shows 1957 on the title page and carries nothing on the copyright page beyond the copyright line. Binding is off-white patterned paper over boards, the spine stamped in gilt over brown. The jacket should be priced at the flap, and per Between the Covers it must lack the 'Second Printing' notice that Yale added to the front flap of the second-printing jacket; first-printing books are sometimes found in later jackets, so book and jacket must be checked separately.

## Is this the true first?
US only, and the census claim is confirmed. Yale University Press, New Haven, 1957 is the sole first edition of Wright's debut; no UK or original-language edition precedes or competes with it. The Yale Series of Younger Poets volume is the only edition collected as the first.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club issue is documented. The principal reprint trap is the AMS Press reissue of the complete Yale Series of Younger Poets (ISBN 0404538533), a later library-style reprint of the whole series. Otherwise the tells are a copyright page that lists reprintings, or a jacket whose front flap reads 'Second Printing'.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Green Wall* by James Wright a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-green-wall
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.