# Is "The Wild Birds: Six Stories of the Port William Membership" by Wendell Berry a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Wild Birds: Six Stories of the Port William Membership by Wendell Berry (North Point Press, 1986) is identified by: North Point Press (San Francisco) first printing, 1986, of this collection of six Port William stories (Thicker Than Liquor; Where Did They Go?; It Wasn't Me; The Boundary; That Distant Land; The Wild Birds). True first edition of this story collection; North Point was Berry's US publisher and there was no earlier UK printing.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- North Point Press (San Francisco) first printing, 1986, of this collection of six Port William stories (Thicker Than Liquor
- Where Did They Go?; It Wasn't Me
- The Boundary
- That Distant Land
- The Wild Birds)
- North Point books carry no printer's number line, so a first printing is identified by the absence of any later-printing or additional-printing statement on the copyright page
- Publisher imprint reads North Point Press

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Wendell Berry |
| Publisher | North Point Press |
| Year | 1986 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | North Point Press (San Francisco) first printing, 1986, of this collection of six Port… |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
North Point Press (San Francisco) first printing, 1986, of this collection of six Port William stories (Thicker Than Liquor; Where Did They Go?; It Wasn't Me; The Boundary; That Distant Land; The Wild Birds). North Point books carry no printer's number line, so a first printing is identified by the absence of any later-printing or additional-printing statement on the copyright page. The book was issued simultaneously in a cloth binding (ISBN 0-86547-216-5) and in wrappers; the cloth issue is the preferred collectible form, with the trade issue in wrappers. Cloth copies were issued in a dust jacket that should retain its printed price on the flap. The standard reference for Berry's points of issue is the Freedman bibliography.

## Is this the true first?
True first edition of this story collection; North Point was Berry's US publisher and there was no earlier UK printing. Because North Point used no number line, confirm a first printing by the clean copyright page (no statement of later or additional printings) rather than by a printer's key.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club edition. North Point issued the cloth and wrappers simultaneously with no priority stated between them; the cloth issue is the preferred collectible form. Later North Point printings add a printing statement to the copyright page.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Wild Birds: Six Stories of the Port William Membership* by Wendell Berry a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-wild-birds-six-stories-of-the-port-william-membership
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.