# Is "Anne of Green Gables" by L. M. Montgomery a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery (L. C. Page & Company, 1908) is identified by: The first impression is identified on the copyright page, which reads "First Impression, April, 1908" and lists no later impressions; Page reprinted almost monthly for two years, and each subsequent impression adds its own dated line beneath. The census claim is confirmed.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- The first impression is identified on the copyright page, which reads "First Impression, April, 1908" and lists no later impressions
- Page reprinted almost monthly for two years, and each subsequent impression adds its own dated line beneath
- The title page carries the date in Roman numerals (MDCCCCVIII), but this is not a point on its own — the Roman-numeral title page persists through roughly the first three dozen impressions into the 1910s, so the copyright page is the only reliable test
- Collation is octavo, viii, [2], 429 pp. plus publisher's advertisements, with a frontispiece and seven plates by M. A. and W. A. J. Claus and an uncredited cover design by George Gibbs
- The binding is the publisher's ribbed cloth ruled in blind, gilt-lettered on spine and front board, with a mounted pictorial onlay of Anne's profile to the front board; the cloth is found in at least three colours (green, brown, and a pinkish-grey/beige) with no priority established among them, so cloth colour is not an identification point
- A dust jacket was issued but no jacketed copy is recorded as surviving, so jacket points play no part in identifying this book
- Publisher imprint reads L. C. Page & Company

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | L. M. Montgomery |
| Publisher | L. C. Page & Company |
| Year | 1908 |
| True first | British edition |
| Format | Children's / illustrated |
| Key point | The first impression is identified on the copyright page, which reads "First Impression, April, 1908" and lists no later impressions |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
The first impression is identified on the copyright page, which reads "First Impression, April, 1908" and lists no later impressions; Page reprinted almost monthly for two years, and each subsequent impression adds its own dated line beneath. The title page carries the date in Roman numerals (MDCCCCVIII), but this is not a point on its own — the Roman-numeral title page persists through roughly the first three dozen impressions into the 1910s, so the copyright page is the only reliable test. Collation is octavo, viii, [2], 429 pp. plus publisher's advertisements, with a frontispiece and seven plates by M. A. and W. A. J. Claus and an uncredited cover design by George Gibbs. The binding is the publisher's ribbed cloth ruled in blind, gilt-lettered on spine and front board, with a mounted pictorial onlay of Anne's profile to the front board; the cloth is found in at least three colours (green, brown, and a pinkish-grey/beige) with no priority established among them, so cloth colour is not an identification point. A dust jacket was issued but no jacketed copy is recorded as surviving, so jacket points play no part in identifying this book.

## Is this the true first?
The census claim is confirmed. L. C. Page & Company, Boston — published 13 June 1908, the author's first book — is the true first. Sir Isaac Pitman & Sons, London issued the first British edition the same year (1908), printed from the American sheets; it follows Page and is collected as the first British edition rather than as the true first. Despite the Canadian author and Prince Edward Island setting there is no earlier Canadian edition; Page held the book. The Pitman imprint carried the sequel, Anne of Avonlea, in 1909, which is a common source of date confusion.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No contemporary book-club issue of the 1908 Page first is documented. The standing trap is later Page impressions: they retain the MDCCCCVIII Roman-numeral title page, the Claus plates and the same pictorial-onlay binding, and differ only by the added impression lines on the copyright page — dealers routinely and correctly catalogue such copies as "the printed pricet edition, 7th printing" and the like. A variant with no impressions stated and no Roman-numeral date on the title page is recorded and is reported to be a later printing on which the impression line was omitted, not an earlier state.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Anne of Green Gables* by L. M. Montgomery a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/anne-of-green-gables
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.