NMLP P-030513 · True-first precedence · minted 2026-07-04

Birthday Letters

Ted Hughes · Faber and Faber (London) · 1998

Faber UK (1998) is the true first trade edition; the Farrar, Straus and Giroux US edition (1998) is the first American. A signed limited edition preceded the trade issue and is the premium state. The collection of eighty-eight poems, addressed almost entirely to Sylvia Plath, appeared months before Hughes's death in 1998, making inscribed copies uncommon.

Full identification guide for this title →

New Mexico Literacy Project — True-first precedence NMLP P-030513 for "Birthday Letters" by Ted Hughes (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/id/point/p-030513, CC BY 4.0, dataset DOI 10.5281/zenodo.21184548).