# Is "Camino Real" by Tennessee Williams a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Camino Real by Tennessee Williams (New Directions, 1953) is identified by: Bound in light brown khaki cloth lettered in black on the spine, in the original black-and-white pictorial dust jacket designed by Alvin Lustig, with the printed price present on the jacket. US New Directions is the true first; the UK Secker & Warburg edition followed in 1958.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- New Directions, 1953
- Bound in light brown khaki cloth lettered in black on the spine, in the original black-and-white pictorial dust jacket designed by Alvin Lustig, with the printed price present on the jacket
- Includes Williams's Foreword and Afterword
- The first printing carries no listing of later printings on the copyright page
- Publisher imprint reads New Directions
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Tennessee Williams |
| Publisher | New Directions |
| Year | 1953 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | New Directions, 1953 |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
New Directions, 1953. Bound in light brown khaki cloth lettered in black on the spine, in the original black-and-white pictorial dust jacket designed by Alvin Lustig, with the printed price present on the jacket. Includes Williams's Foreword and Afterword. The first printing carries no listing of later printings on the copyright page.

## Is this the true first?
US New Directions is the true first; the UK Secker & Warburg edition followed in 1958.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No early book-club edition. New Directions did not use a 'First Edition' statement for this title; the first printing is identified by the absence of any later-printing notation on the copyright page (and on the jacket flap). Later printings within the same first-edition binding are stated on the copyright page (second, third printing, and so on).

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Camino Real* by Tennessee Williams a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/camino-real
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.