# Is "The Shoe Bird" by Eudora Welty a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Shoe Bird by Eudora Welty (Harcourt, Brace & World, 1964) is identified by: 'first edition' stated on the copyright page; Welty's only children's book, illustrated by Beth Krush, published by Harcourt, Brace & World, New York, 1964, 88 pages. US first edition; first appearance of this children's title (first thus), the Harcourt, Brace & World printing of 1964, corresponding to Polk A14:1.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- 'first edition' stated on the copyright page
- Welty's only children's book, illustrated by Beth Krush, published by Harcourt, Brace & World, New York, 1964, 88 pages
- Bound in yellow cloth lettered in black on the spine, with a parrot wearing shoes stamped on the front board, in a pictorial dust jacket carrying its printed price on the front flap
- Recorded as A14:1 in Noel Polk's descriptive bibliography of Welty
- Publisher imprint reads Harcourt, Brace & World
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Eudora Welty |
| Publisher | Harcourt, Brace & World |
| Year | 1964 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | 'first edition' stated on the copyright page |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
'first edition' stated on the copyright page; Welty's only children's book, illustrated by Beth Krush, published by Harcourt, Brace & World, New York, 1964, 88 pages. Bound in yellow cloth lettered in black on the spine, with a parrot wearing shoes stamped on the front board, in a pictorial dust jacket carrying its printed price on the front flap. Recorded as A14:1 in Noel Polk's descriptive bibliography of Welty.

## Is this the true first?
US first edition; first appearance of this children's title (first thus), the Harcourt, Brace & World printing of 1964, corresponding to Polk A14:1.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Later reprints lack the 'first edition' statement; a first-issue copy pairs the stated 'first edition' with the yellow cloth, the shoe-wearing-parrot front-board stamp, and the price-bearing jacket flap.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Shoe Bird* by Eudora Welty a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-shoe-bird
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.