# Is "A Century of Dishonor" by Helen Hunt Jackson (published as "H.H.") a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of A Century of Dishonor by Helen Hunt Jackson (published as "H.H.") (Harper & Brothers, 1881) is identified by: New York: Harper & Brothers, 1881, octavo, collating x, 457, [1], 6 pages (the last six being publisher's advertisements), bound in the publisher's original gilt-stamped brown cloth with brown coated endpapers.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- New York: Harper & Brothers, 1881, octavo, collating x, 457, [1], 6 pages (the last six being publisher's advertisements), bound in the publisher's original gilt-stamped brown cloth with brown coated endpapers
- At her own expense, Jackson mailed a copy to every member of Congress together with a note quoting Benjamin Franklin -- "Look upon your hands: they are stained with the blood of your relations" -- as part of her campaign for federal Indian-policy reform
- The book's lengthy documentary appendix reprints government treaties and official reports on the Delaware, Cheyenne, Nez Perce, Sioux, Ponca, Winnebago, and Cherokee, and the work is widely credited with helping bring about passage of the Dawes Act of 1887
- Publisher imprint reads Harper & Brothers
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Helen Hunt Jackson (published as "H.H.") |
| Publisher | Harper & Brothers |
| Year | 1881 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | New York: Harper & Brothers, 1881, octavo, collating x, 457, [1], 6 pages (the last six being publisher's advertisements), bound in the… |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
New York: Harper & Brothers, 1881, octavo, collating x, 457, [1], 6 pages (the last six being publisher's advertisements), bound in the publisher's original gilt-stamped brown cloth with brown coated endpapers. At her own expense, Jackson mailed a copy to every member of Congress together with a note quoting Benjamin Franklin -- "Look upon your hands: they are stained with the blood of your relations" -- as part of her campaign for federal Indian-policy reform. The book's lengthy documentary appendix reprints government treaties and official reports on the Delaware, Cheyenne, Nez Perce, Sioux, Ponca, Winnebago, and Cherokee, and the work is widely credited with helping bring about passage of the Dawes Act of 1887.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
The 1965 Harper & Row Torchbook reprint, issued with an introductory essay by Andrew F. Rolle, omits the fifteen supporting documents that filled out the appendix of the 1881 original; a copy lacking the full documentary appendix is a later abridged reprint, not the first-edition text.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *A Century of Dishonor* by Helen Hunt Jackson (published as "H.H.") a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/a-century-of-dishonor
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.