# Is "The Hawk in the Rain" by Ted Hughes a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Hawk in the Rain by Ted Hughes (Faber and Faber, 1957) is identified by: Hughes's first book, the winner of the inaugural New York Poetry Center First Publication competition (judges W. The Faber edition (1957) is the true first; the Harper & Brothers edition (1957) is the first American (the contest was American, but Faber published first).

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Hughes's first book, the winner of the inaugural New York Poetry Center First Publication competition (judges W. H. Auden, Stephen Spender, Marianne Moore)
- Faber and Faber (London) first edition, first impression, September 1957: 'first published in mcmlvii' on the copyright page, in a dust jacket with its printed price
- The US Harper & Brothers edition
- is the first American edition
- Publisher imprint reads Faber and Faber
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Ted Hughes |
| Publisher | Faber and Faber |
| Year | 1957 |
| True first | American edition |
| Format | Poetry |
| Key point | Hughes's first book, the winner of the inaugural New York Poetry Center First Publication competition (judges W. H. Auden, Stephen Spender… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
Hughes's first book, the winner of the inaugural New York Poetry Center First Publication competition (judges W. H. Auden, Stephen Spender, Marianne Moore). Faber and Faber (London) first edition, first impression, September 1957: 'first published in mcmlvii' on the copyright page, in a dust jacket with its printed price. The US Harper & Brothers edition (1957) is the first American edition.

## Is this the true first?
The Faber edition (1957) is the true first; the Harper & Brothers edition (1957) is the first American (the contest was American, but Faber published first).

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book club. The US Harper issue is told by its imprint and dust-jacket price. Note that the second Faber impression carries a the printed price jacket, so a first impression should show the printed price (not the printed price).

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Hawk in the Rain* by Ted Hughes a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-hawk-in-the-rain
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.