# Is "Behind the Scenes: or, Thirty Years a Slave, and Four Years in the White House" by Elizabeth Keckley a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Behind the Scenes: or, Thirty Years a Slave, and Four Years in the White House by Elizabeth Keckley (G.W. Carleton & Co., 1868) is identified by: The first edition's title page reads 'New York: G.W.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- The first edition's title page reads 'New York: G.W. Carleton & Co., Publishers, 1868' and collates 371, [1], [8 pp. ads] pages, with an engraved portrait frontispiece of Keckley facing the title page
- It was issued in the publisher's cloth blocked in blind with the spine lettered in gilt; both green and brown cloth copies are recorded from 1868, with no established priority between the two colors
- The book's revelations about Mary Todd Lincoln's private life and finances caused controversy immediately on publication
- Publisher imprint reads G.W. Carleton & Co.
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Elizabeth Keckley |
| Publisher | G.W. Carleton & Co. |
| Year | 1868 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | The first edition's title page reads 'New York: G.W. Carleton & Co., Publishers, 1868' and collates 371, [1], [8 pp. ads] pages, with an… |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
The first edition's title page reads 'New York: G.W. Carleton & Co., Publishers, 1868' and collates 371, [1], [8 pp. ads] pages, with an engraved portrait frontispiece of Keckley facing the title page. It was issued in the publisher's cloth blocked in blind with the spine lettered in gilt; both green and brown cloth copies are recorded from 1868, with no established priority between the two colors. The book's revelations about Mary Todd Lincoln's private life and finances caused controversy immediately on publication.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
The book was reissued in facsimile as part of the Schomburg Library of Nineteenth-Century Black Women Writers (Oxford University Press, 1988, introduction by James Olney); that modern facsimile is not the 1868 Carleton first edition.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Behind the Scenes: or, Thirty Years a Slave, and Four Years in the White House* by Elizabeth Keckley a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/behind-the-scenes-or-thirty-years-a-slave-and-four-years-in
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.