# Is "Hunting Trips of a Ranchman" by Theodore Roosevelt a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Hunting Trips of a Ranchman by Theodore Roosevelt (G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1885) is identified by: The true first edition is the "Medora Edition," a large-paper quarto limited to 500 numbered copies (about 11 inches tall), collating xvi, 318, [4] pages, bound in gilt-stamped brown cloth, top edge trimmed but fore-edge and tail left untrimmed, illustrated with India-proof impressions of etchings by R. The numbered, 500-copy Medora Edition of 1885 is the true first edition; the more commonly seen octavo Putnam trade printing dates from 1886.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1885
- The true first edition is the "Medora Edition," a large-paper quarto limited to 500 numbered copies (about 11 inches tall), collating xvi, 318, [4] pages, bound in gilt-stamped brown cloth, top edge trimmed but fore-edge and tail left untrimmed, illustrated with India-proof impressions of etchings by R. Swain Gifford and Japan-proof impressions of drawings by J. C. Beard, plus full-page plates by Gifford, Beard, Henry Sandham, A. B. Frost, and others
- Roosevelt personally subsidized the printing of this deluxe first issue, named for Medora, the Dakota Territory boomtown near his Maltese Cross and Elkhorn ranches
- A smaller-format ordinary trade edition followed from Putnam in 1886 and is not the first edition
- Publisher imprint reads G. P. Putnam's Sons
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Theodore Roosevelt |
| Publisher | G. P. Putnam's Sons |
| Year | 1885 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1885 |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1885. The true first edition is the "Medora Edition," a large-paper quarto limited to 500 numbered copies (about 11 inches tall), collating xvi, 318, [4] pages, bound in gilt-stamped brown cloth, top edge trimmed but fore-edge and tail left untrimmed, illustrated with India-proof impressions of etchings by R. Swain Gifford and Japan-proof impressions of drawings by J. C. Beard, plus full-page plates by Gifford, Beard, Henry Sandham, A. B. Frost, and others. Roosevelt personally subsidized the printing of this deluxe first issue, named for Medora, the Dakota Territory boomtown near his Maltese Cross and Elkhorn ranches. A smaller-format ordinary trade edition followed from Putnam in 1886 and is not the first edition.

## Is this the true first?
The numbered, 500-copy Medora Edition of 1885 is the true first edition; the more commonly seen octavo Putnam trade printing dates from 1886.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
The 1886 and later Putnam trade printings, and 20th-century facsimile reprints, drop the large-paper format, the numbered limitation, and the proof-state plates that distinguish the Medora Edition.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Hunting Trips of a Ranchman* by Theodore Roosevelt a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/hunting-trips-of-a-ranchman
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.