# Is "If Christ Came to Chicago!" by W. T. Stead a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of If Christ Came to Chicago! by W. T. Stead (Laird & Lee / The Bow-Knot Publishing Co., 1894) is identified by: First edition, octavo, collating xvi, 460, [4] pp., with a frontispiece and a folding two-color street map keying the Nineteenth Precinct of Chicago's First Ward -- the notorious "Levee" vice district -- showing the locations of brothels, saloons, lodging houses, and pawnbrokers. Stead, editor of the Review of Reviews, issued the book nearly simultaneously through his own Review of Reviews office in London and through the Chicago firm of Laird & Lee (the Bow-Knot Publishing Co.); no firm priority between the Chicago and London printings has been established in the sources consulted.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First edition, octavo, collating xvi, 460, [4] pp., with a frontispiece and a folding two-color street map keying the Nineteenth Precinct of Chicago's First Ward -- the notorious "Levee" vice district -- showing the locations of brothels, saloons, lodging houses, and pawnbrokers
- Original burgundy cloth with gilt-titled spine (also recorded in the publisher's half cloth over paper-covered boards, the binding used for the Chicago Bow-Knot/Laird & Lee issue)
- Stead, already known in Britain for his 1885 anti-vice journalism, wrote the book after an extended stay in Chicago investigating municipal corruption around the time of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition
- Publisher imprint reads Laird & Lee / The Bow-Knot Publishing Co.
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | W. T. Stead |
| Publisher | Laird & Lee / The Bow-Knot Publishing Co. |
| Year | 1894 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First edition, octavo, collating xvi, 460, [4] pp., with a frontispiece and a folding two-color street map keying the Nineteenth Precinct… |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
First edition, octavo, collating xvi, 460, [4] pp., with a frontispiece and a folding two-color street map keying the Nineteenth Precinct of Chicago's First Ward -- the notorious "Levee" vice district -- showing the locations of brothels, saloons, lodging houses, and pawnbrokers. Original burgundy cloth with gilt-titled spine (also recorded in the publisher's half cloth over paper-covered boards, the binding used for the Chicago Bow-Knot/Laird & Lee issue). Stead, already known in Britain for his 1885 anti-vice journalism, wrote the book after an extended stay in Chicago investigating municipal corruption around the time of the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition.

## Is this the true first?
Stead, editor of the Review of Reviews, issued the book nearly simultaneously through his own Review of Reviews office in London and through the Chicago firm of Laird & Lee (the Bow-Knot Publishing Co.); no firm priority between the Chicago and London printings has been established in the sources consulted.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *If Christ Came to Chicago!* by W. T. Stead a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/if-christ-came-to-chicago
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.