- In its early years New Directions was not consistent about stating a first edition or marking later printings, so the copyright page alone may not settle a copy.
- Binding variants can help separate printings, since first-edition sheets were sometimes bound up later; check an author bibliography for early titles.
- Book club copies (a general tell for US trade houses; no mark specific to this house was found): a jacket flap with no printed price is the commonest sign, though a printed price does not on its own rule out a club copy. Also look for a small blind stamp, such as a dot or square, pressed into the rear board, and for a book that is smaller and more cheaply made than the trade edition.
Publisher · founded 1936 · New York City
New Directions
New Directions is the independent New York publisher James Laughlin founded in 1936, known for Pound, William Carlos Williams, modernist translation and Lustig jackets.
- Editions tracked
- 66
- First editions
- 42
- Books
- 66
- Years
- 1933 to 2024
New Directions is a publisher based in New York City, founded in 1936. We track 66 editions it published between 1933 and 2024, 42 of them first editions across 66 books. How New Directions marked its first editions is set out below, with a checker for the year on your title page.
About New Directions
New Directions is an independent New York publisher founded in 1936 by James Laughlin, then a Harvard sophomore, on Ezra Pound's advice to do something useful. The firm was incorporated in 1964.
Its first projects were the anthologies New Directions in Poetry and Prose, which printed early work by Dylan Thomas, Marianne Moore, Wallace Stevens, Thomas Merton, Denise Levertov and Lawrence Ferlinghetti. New Directions published early books by Ezra Pound and William Carlos Williams, was the first American publisher of Vladimir Nabokov, Jorge Luis Borges and Henry Miller, and Tennessee Williams first appeared as a poet in one of its collections. Its list later grew into all genres, with a strong line in modernist literature in translation, and its New Classics and Modern Readers series reissued out-of-print books such as Joyce's Stephen Hero and Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby.
After the Second World War the designer Alvin Lustig created the abstract modernist jackets that became a house hallmark. The centaur colophon, based on a sculpture by Heinz Henghes, usually appears on the spine.
After Laughlin's death in 1997 the company passed to a trust set up in his will, and it remains independent.
Holding a copy? The first edition checker shows New Directions's practice for the year on your title page.
Identification
How to identify New Directions first editions
Authors
Series
Books
Published by New Directions
Frequently asked questions
How do I identify a New Directions first edition?
- In its early years New Directions was not consistent about stating a first edition or marking later printings, so the copyright page alone may not settle a copy. - Binding variants can help separate printings, since first-edition sheets were sometimes bound up later; check an author bibliography for early titles. - Book club copies (a general tell for US trade houses; no mark specific to this ho
How many New Directions books does MyVolumes track?
We track 66 editions published by New Directions, 42 of them first editions, across 66 books.
Where these facts come from
- First-Edition - Identification by Publisher (Allen and Patricia Ahearn), ILAB, 2010 (ilab.org)
- First Edition Information by Publisher, Evening Land Books (eveninglandbooks.com)
- New Directions Publishing, Wikipedia (en.wikipedia.org)
- Identifying Book Club Editions, IOBA (ioba.org)
- Identifying Book Club Editions, bookfever.com (bookfever.com)
Every fact on this page was checked against the sources listed. Checked 17 October 2026. Reviewed by Harriet Ellis; read how we check facts.