# Is "The World Doesn't End" by Charles Simic a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The World Doesn't End by Charles Simic (Harcourt Brace Jovanovich, 1989) is identified by: Won the 1990 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry; a collection of prose poems. US HBJ trade edition (1989) is the true first; the hardcover in dust jacket is the collector's first.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Won the 1990 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry; a collection of prose poems
- The true first is the Harcourt Brace Jovanovich trade edition of 1989 (San Diego), identified by the Harcourt letter line on the copyright page reading A B C D E (not a number line)
- The collectible first is the cloth hardcover in pictorial dust jacket; a softcover issue in wrappers also exists
- Publisher imprint reads Harcourt Brace Jovanovich
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Charles Simic |
| Publisher | Harcourt Brace Jovanovich |
| Year | 1989 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Poetry |
| Key point | Won the 1990 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry; a collection of prose poems |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
Won the 1990 Pulitzer Prize for Poetry; a collection of prose poems. The true first is the Harcourt Brace Jovanovich trade edition of 1989 (San Diego), identified by the Harcourt letter line on the copyright page reading A B C D E (not a number line). The collectible first is the cloth hardcover in pictorial dust jacket; a softcover issue in wrappers also exists.

## Is this the true first?
US HBJ trade edition (1989) is the true first; the hardcover in dust jacket is the collector's first.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club edition noted. Later printings advance the HBJ letter line.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The World Doesn't End* by Charles Simic a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-world-doesnt-end
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.