Is My 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 — note that the census assertion of "US only" was not independently confirmed and is reported, not vouched for. 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.

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 — note that the census assertion of "US only" was not independently confirmed and is reported, not vouched for.

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. The 2020 Nobel Prize drove a wave of reissues and reprints, so any copy acquired after 2020 warrants ext

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 — 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.