# Is "Tickets for a Prayer Wheel" by Annie Dillard a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Tickets for a Prayer Wheel by Annie Dillard (University of Missouri Press, 1974) is identified by: University of Missouri Press (Columbia) first edition, first printing, 1974; Dillard's first book (poems), 127+ pp. True first US and Dillard's first book, published in 1974 just ahead of Pilgrim at Tinker Creek the same year.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- University of Missouri Press (Columbia) first edition, first printing, 1974
- Dillard's first book (poems), 127+ pp
- Bound in cloth-backed thin/flexible boards with gilt spine lettering (recorded cloth colors vary across copies — orchid, rose, and red — with no established precedence), in the original pictorial dust jacket, which should retain its printed price (present/unclipped on a first-issue jacket)
- Publisher imprint reads University of Missouri Press
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Annie Dillard |
| Publisher | University of Missouri Press |
| Year | 1974 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | University of Missouri Press (Columbia) first edition, first printing, 1974 |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
University of Missouri Press (Columbia) first edition, first printing, 1974; Dillard's first book (poems), 127+ pp. Bound in cloth-backed thin/flexible boards with gilt spine lettering (recorded cloth colors vary across copies — orchid, rose, and red — with no established precedence), in the original pictorial dust jacket, which should retain its printed price (present/unclipped on a first-issue jacket).

## Is this the true first?
True first US and Dillard's first book, published in 1974 just ahead of Pilgrim at Tinker Creek the same year. The later Wesleyan Poetry Series edition is a reprint, not the first.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club edition; do not confuse with the Wesleyan (Wesleyan University Press) reissue, which is a distinct later edition rather than the 1974 University of Missouri Press first.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Tickets for a Prayer Wheel* by Annie Dillard a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/tickets-for-a-prayer-wheel
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.