# Is "History of Woman Suffrage, Volume I" by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Matilda Joslyn Gage a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of History of Woman Suffrage, Volume I by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Matilda Joslyn Gage (Fowler & Wells, 1881) is identified by: First edition, first printing, large octavo, bound in publisher's cloth (recorded burgundy) with the spine lettered in gilt, illustrated with numerous steel-engraved portraits of suffrage leaders. Susan B.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First edition, first printing, large octavo, bound in publisher's cloth (recorded burgundy) with the spine lettered in gilt, illustrated with numerous steel-engraved portraits of suffrage leaders
- Volume I covers the movement from 1848 to 1861 and names all three editors -- Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Matilda Joslyn Gage -- on the title page
- Fowler & Wells financed the paper, presswork, binding, and advertising, while the editors themselves paid for composition, stereotyping, and the costly steel engravings; the set eventually grew to six volumes published between 1881 and 1922, with Anthony taking an increasingly dominant editorial and financial role in the later volumes
- Publisher imprint reads Fowler & Wells
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Matilda Joslyn Gage |
| Publisher | Fowler & Wells |
| Year | 1881 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First edition, first printing, large octavo, bound in publisher's cloth (recorded burgundy) with the spine lettered in gilt, illustrated… |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
First edition, first printing, large octavo, bound in publisher's cloth (recorded burgundy) with the spine lettered in gilt, illustrated with numerous steel-engraved portraits of suffrage leaders. Volume I covers the movement from 1848 to 1861 and names all three editors -- Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Matilda Joslyn Gage -- on the title page. Fowler & Wells financed the paper, presswork, binding, and advertising, while the editors themselves paid for composition, stereotyping, and the costly steel engravings; the set eventually grew to six volumes published between 1881 and 1922, with Anthony taking an increasingly dominant editorial and financial role in the later volumes.

## Is this the true first?
Susan B. Anthony purchased the stereotype plates for Volumes I and II from Fowler & Wells in 1885 and began issuing her own reprintings from the same plates in 1887, listing herself as publisher; these Anthony reprints postdate the true 1881 Fowler & Wells first printing though they are textually identical.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *History of Woman Suffrage, Volume I* by Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Susan B. Anthony, and Matilda Joslyn Gage a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/history-of-woman-suffrage-volume-i
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.