# Is "Transformations" by Anne Sexton a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Transformations by Anne Sexton (Houghton Mifflin, Boston, 1971) is identified by: Two first-printing issues were published and both are collected. US true first: Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1971 (ISBN 0395127211).

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Two first-printing issues were published and both are collected
- The trade issue is bound in paper-covered boards with a cloth spine, collates 111 pp., and belongs in its dust jacket — unclipped, with the price present at the front flap
- The limited issue is one of 500 copies signed by Sexton, bound in red cloth with a printed paper label on the front cover, issued in a glassine wrapper and a publisher's slipcase; the limited issue is confirmed by both dealer catalogue and auction record
- Both carry drawings by Barbara Swan and a foreword by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr
- (styled a preface in some dealer descriptions)
- Houghton Mifflin house practice for this period requires 'First Printing' stated on the copyright page, with the year in Arabic numerals on the title page; the statement is dropped on later printings, which dealers catalogue as 'first edition, second printing' and so on
- Publisher imprint reads Houghton Mifflin, Boston

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Anne Sexton |
| Publisher | Houghton Mifflin, Boston |
| Year | 1971 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Poetry |
| Key point | Two first-printing issues were published and both are collected |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
Two first-printing issues were published and both are collected. The trade issue is bound in paper-covered boards with a cloth spine, collates 111 pp., and belongs in its dust jacket — unclipped, with the price present at the front flap. The limited issue is one of 500 copies signed by Sexton, bound in red cloth with a printed paper label on the front cover, issued in a glassine wrapper and a publisher's slipcase; the limited issue is confirmed by both dealer catalogue and auction record. Both carry drawings by Barbara Swan and a foreword by Kurt Vonnegut, Jr. (styled a preface in some dealer descriptions). Houghton Mifflin house practice for this period requires 'First Printing' stated on the copyright page, with the year in Arabic numerals on the title page; the statement is dropped on later printings, which dealers catalogue as 'first edition, second printing' and so on.

## Is this the true first?
US true first: Boston: Houghton Mifflin, 1971 (ISBN 0395127211). The first British edition followed from Oxford University Press, London, 1 June 1972 (ISBN 019211817X) — a distinct edition collected in its own right as the UK first, but not the true first. First thus trap: Houghton Mifflin's 2001 reissue under ISBN 0618083435 / 9780618083435 is a modern reprint despite carrying the same publisher imprint.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club edition documented. The realistic trap is the second and later Houghton Mifflin printings still dated 1971-72, which are common in commerce; the printing statement on the copyright page is the tell, not the 1971 date on the title page.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Transformations* by Anne Sexton a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/transformations
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.