Is My The Pisan Cantos a First Edition?

The points of issue

• New Directions, New York, published 30 July 1948
• Gallup A60a
• Connolly, The Modern Movement, 100
• 1,525 copies printed
• Binding is original fine-grained black cloth lettered in silver to the spine
• The dust jacket is buff paper lettered in green with an illustration of Pound in profile on the front panel; refer to it only as a priced jacket / price present at the flap

How New Directions, New York marked a first edition

• Modern paperbacks carry a descending number line; lowest digit (1) present indicates first printing.

Full New Directions, New York first-edition guide →

How to verify your copy, step by step

1. Find the copyright page — the verso (back) of the title page.
2. Confirm the first-edition statement — look for “First Edition,” “First Printing,” or the publisher’s equivalent wording.
3. Check for a number line or dated printing — the lowest number present is the printing; a dated first printing with no later printings listed is the tell.
4. Verify this is the US true first — not a later-market or reprint edition.
5. Rule out a book-club edition — a blind-stamp on the rear board or a jacket with no printed price marks a book-club copy.
6. Photograph four things — the front cover, spine, title page, and copyright page — the standard record for identification.

The dust jacket

For a collectible first edition the dust jacket matters as much as the book. Confirm the jacket is present and unclipped — the printed price should still be at the corner of the flap (a clipped corner or a price-less flap can indicate a book-club issue). First-state jackets can differ from later ones in the cover art, blurbs, or review quotations; where a specific first-state jacket point is known for this title it is noted above.

Binding & format

Where multiple bindings exist, the hardcover trade issue is usually (but not always) the precedence copy — confirm against the points above. Later printings often show cheaper cloth, thinner boards, or simplified spine stamping. A simultaneous signed or limited issue, when one exists, is a distinct state from the trade first.

Is this the true first?

US true first, confirmed against an academic bibliography and a dealer description independently: New Directions published in New York on 30 July 1948, ahead of the first UK edition from Faber & Faber, London, published 22 July 1949. Both are collected — the Faber is the first English edition and a separate setting, not an import of the New Directions sheets. The census claim of US precedence is correct.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club issue is documented for this title. The reprint tells are later New Directions printings, the Sixth Avenue jacket state noted above, and the modern New Directions Paperbook edition (ISBN 9780811215589) edited and annotated by Richard Sieburth, which is a first thus and is the copy most often mistaken for the 1948 book on title alone. One correction of emphasis to the census note: The Pisan Cantos did win the inaugural Bollingen Prize, awarded by the Library of Congress by a jury including T. S. Eliot, but dealer descriptions split between calling it the 1948 and the 1949 prize because it was the award for 1948 made in February 1949 — the page should say 'inaugural Bollingen Prize (the 1948 award, announced February 1949)' rather than pick a year.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Pisan Cantos a first edition?

A first edition of The Pisan Cantos by Ezra Pound (New Directions, New York) is identified by: New Directions, New York, published 30 July 1948; Gallup A60a; Connolly, The Modern Movement, 100.

How do I tell the first printing from a later one?

Check the copyright page. A stated first edition, a number line ending in 1, or a dated first printing with no later printings listed is the key. US true first, confirmed against an academic bibliography and a dealer description independently: New Directions published in New York on 30 July 1948, ahead of the first UK edition from Faber & Faber, London, published 22 July 1949.

Is the book-club edition the same as the first?

No book-club issue is documented for this title. The reprint tells are later New Directions printings, the Sixth Avenue jacket state noted above, and the modern New Directions Paperbook edition (ISBN 9780811215589) edited and annotated by Richard Sieburth, which is a first thus and is the copy most often mistaken for the 1948 book on title alone. One correction of emphasis to the census note: The Pisan Cantos did win the inaugural Bollingen Prize, awarded by the Library of Congress by a jury inc

I have a first edition of The Pisan Cantos — what should I do?

First, document the copy: photograph the copyright page (the number line and any edition statement) and the dust-jacket flap — an unclipped, priced jacket matters. Confirm the points of issue above against your copy, and use the free First Edition Checker to decode the printing. To sell, the author’s collecting guide covers the market. And if you are clearing books in the Albuquerque area, the New Mexico Literacy Project offers free pickup, any condition, and makes sure collectible copies are identified rather than discarded.

Glossary

First edition

Every copy printed from the first setting of type. Collectors usually want the first edition, first printing (the true first).

First printing / impression

A single press run from that setting. The first printing is the earliest and most desirable; later printings are still the first edition but not the true first.

Number line (printer's key)

A row of numbers on the copyright page (e.g. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1). The lowest number present is the printing — a line including 1 marks a first printing (Random House deliberately ends at 2).

Points of issue

Specific physical details — a stated edition, a number line, a typo, a jacket state — that identify the true first printing.

Book-club edition (BCE)

A reprint made for a book club. Tells include a blind-stamped dot or square on the rear board and a dust jacket with no printed price. Not the true first.

First thus

The first appearance of a particular version (first paperback, first illustrated, first U.S. printing) — a first of that kind, not the first edition of the work.