Is My Copy of The Triumph of Achilles a First Edition?

The points of issue

• The first edition is The Ecco Press, New York, 1985 — Glück's fourth collection, twenty-six poems in three sections, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry and of the Poetry Society of America's Melville Kane Award
• Binding is the identifying feature and is consistently described by independent dealers: cloth-backed, paper-covered boards, with a pale grey (variously "grey") cloth backstrip and brick-red paper-covered boards (also described as "red," "light red," and "plum"), spine titles stamped in gilt, and the author's initials embossed into the front cover
• Pagination 60 pages, collating [xii], [2], 3-60
• Issued in a priced dust jacket — price present at the flap, so a price-clipped jacket loses that point
• Some copies carry a publisher's printed sticker noting the Melville Kane Award
• Uncorrected proofs exist in original printed blue paper wrappers and should not be confused with a trade wrappers issue

How The Ecco Press, New York marked a first edition

• Independent Ecco Press era (1971–1999): typically stated 'First Edition' / 'First printing' and/or first printings identified by absence of later printings; many were trade paperbacks and poetry.

Full The Ecco Press, 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. Read the number line — the lowest number is the printing. A line including 1 is a first printing (Random House deliberately ends at 2). Paste it into the decoder.
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?

A US book with no competing edition: the Ecco Press New York 1985 printing is the true first, and no contemporaneous UK edition is recorded in any source consulted. No original-language question arises; Glück wrote in English. The "first thus" traps are downstream: the poems were later gathered into Glück's collected and selected volumes (and the collection was reissued by Ecco/HarperCollins), and none of those are printings of the 1985 book.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club edition is documented — poetry collections of this scale rarely received one, and no dealer record consulted describes one. The genuine reprint tell is the paperback: no dealer consulted describes a simultaneous 1985 wrappers issue, and the paperback carries a separate ISBN (0-88001-082-7) against the 1985 hardcover's 0-88001-081-9, with the paperback recorded as the later issue. The 2020 Nobel Prize drove a wave of reissues and reprints, so any copy acquired after 2020 warrants extra scrutiny; check the imprint and binding against the description above rather than trusting a jacket or a bookseller's "first edition" note.P-042677

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Triumph of Achilles a first edition?

A first edition of The Triumph of Achilles by Louise Glück (The Ecco Press, New York) is identified by: The first edition is The Ecco Press, New York, 1985 — Glück's fourth collection, twenty-six poems in three sections, winner of the National Book Critics Circle Award for Poetry and of the Poetry Society of America's Melville Kane Award.

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

Check the copyright page. A number line whose lowest number is 1 marks a first printing (Random House ends at 2). A US book with no competing edition: the Ecco Press New York 1985 printing is the true first, and no contemporaneous UK edition is recorded in any source consulted.

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

No book-club edition is documented — poetry collections of this scale rarely received one, and no dealer record consulted describes one. The genuine reprint tell is the paperback: no dealer consulted describes a simultaneous 1985 wrappers issue, and the paperback carries a separate ISBN (0-88001-082-7) against the 1985 hardcover's 0-88001-081-9, with the paperback recorded as the later issue.

I have a first edition of The Triumph of Achilles — what should I do?

First, document the copy: photograph the copyright page (the number line and any edition statement) and the dust-jacket flap. Confirm the points of issue above against your copy, and decode the printing with the free First Edition Checker. Clearing out books? I take them as a free donation and make sure collectible copies are identified, not discarded: free pickup in the Albuquerque metro (scheduled by route), the 24/7 drop box at 5445 Edith Blvd NE, or donor-paid mail-in from anywhere in the US. Questions? Call or text 505-250-3804.

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.