# Is "Guy Rivers: A Tale of Georgia" by William Gilmore Simms a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Guy Rivers: A Tale of Georgia by William Gilmore Simms (Harper & Brothers, 1834) is identified by: First edition, published July 1834 by Harper & Brothers, New York, in two volumes (12mo), the first of Simms's 'Border Romance' novels set on the Georgia frontier.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First edition, published July 1834 by Harper & Brothers, New York, in two volumes (12mo), the first of Simms's 'Border Romance' novels set on the Georgia frontier
- Bound in dark brown 'CM' cloth with a printed paper label on the spine of each volume; an advertisement leaf precedes the title page in volume one, a point dealers check for completeness
- Widely and warmly reviewed on release, the novel helped establish Simms as a major Southern literary figure
- Publisher imprint reads Harper & Brothers
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | William Gilmore Simms |
| Publisher | Harper & Brothers |
| Year | 1834 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First edition, published July 1834 by Harper & Brothers, New York, in two volumes (12mo), the first of Simms's 'Border Romance' novels set… |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
First edition, published July 1834 by Harper & Brothers, New York, in two volumes (12mo), the first of Simms's 'Border Romance' novels set on the Georgia frontier. Bound in dark brown 'CM' cloth with a printed paper label on the spine of each volume; an advertisement leaf precedes the title page in volume one, a point dealers check for completeness. Widely and warmly reviewed on release, the novel helped establish Simms as a major Southern literary figure.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Redfield issued a 'New and Revised Edition' of Guy Rivers in 1855 as part of its uniform reprinting of Simms's romances, and A. C. Armstrong & Son reprinted it again in 1882; both reset the text in uniform publisher's cloth, distinct from the original 1834 Harper two-volume first edition with its paper spine labels.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Guy Rivers: A Tale of Georgia* by William Gilmore Simms a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/guy-rivers-a-tale-of-georgia
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.