# Is "Hereditary Genius: An Inquiry into Its Laws and Consequences" by Francis Galton a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Hereditary Genius: An Inquiry into Its Laws and Consequences by Francis Galton (Macmillan and Co., 1869) is identified by: First edition, collating vi, 390 pages, with a half-title, an errata leaf, 2 folding charts, and numerous statistical tables. The 1869 Macmillan and Co.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First edition, collating vi, 390 pages, with a half-title, an errata leaf, 2 folding charts, and numerous statistical tables
- Bound in publisher's original red cloth, spine lettered in gilt, with a gilt design stamped on the front cover
- Galton's preface claims priority in treating hereditary ability statistically and in introducing the 'law of deviation from an average' into the subject
- Publisher imprint reads Macmillan and Co.
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Francis Galton |
| Publisher | Macmillan and Co. |
| Year | 1869 |
| True first | American edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First edition, collating vi, 390 pages, with a half-title, an errata leaf, 2 folding charts, and numerous statistical tables |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
First edition, collating vi, 390 pages, with a half-title, an errata leaf, 2 folding charts, and numerous statistical tables. Bound in publisher's original red cloth, spine lettered in gilt, with a gilt design stamped on the front cover. Galton's preface claims priority in treating hereditary ability statistically and in introducing the 'law of deviation from an average' into the subject.

## Is this the true first?
The 1869 Macmillan and Co. London edition described here is the true first; a first American edition followed in 1870 from D. Appleton and Company of New York and is a later, secondary printing.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Galton did not substantially rewrite the book for its 1892 second edition: in his own preface to that printing he states he left the 1869 text essentially as first published rather than recast it, limiting himself to minor corrections and a handful of amendments, and added a lengthy new prefatory chapter responding to the intervening years' developments and critics. A title page dated 1892 or reading 'Second Edition' identifies this later printing, distinguished from the 1869 first chiefly by that added preface rather than by a rewritten body text.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Hereditary Genius: An Inquiry into Its Laws and Consequences* by Francis Galton a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/hereditary-genius-an-inquiry-into-its-laws-and-consequences
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.