# Is "The Van Gogh Field and Other Stories" by William Kittredge a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Van Gogh Field and Other Stories by William Kittredge (University of Missouri Press, 1978) is identified by: University of Missouri Press, Columbia, in the Breakthrough series; first printing; copyright page dated 1978. True first US and Kittredge's first book of short stories.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- University of Missouri Press, Columbia, in the Breakthrough series; first printing; copyright page dated 1978
- Issued as a hardcover in cloth-backed boards; the Breakthrough series also released a simultaneous paperback issue
- Publisher imprint reads University of Missouri Press
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | William Kittredge |
| Publisher | University of Missouri Press |
| Year | 1978 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | University of Missouri Press, Columbia, in the Breakthrough series; first printing… |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
University of Missouri Press, Columbia, in the Breakthrough series; first printing; copyright page dated 1978. Issued as a hardcover in cloth-backed boards; the Breakthrough series also released a simultaneous paperback issue.

## Is this the true first?
True first US and Kittredge's first book of short stories. The hardcover is the collected first issue.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club edition. The copyright/title page reads 1978, not 1979; some later cataloguing carried a 1979 date in error.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Van Gogh Field and Other Stories* by William Kittredge a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-van-gogh-field-and-other-stories
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-03.