Is My Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas, and Yucatan a First Edition?

The points of issue

• The true first edition was issued in two volumes illustrated with ninety-six engravings after Frederick Catherwood's drawings, including a folding map and a folding frontispiece, with plates cut by several New York engraving firms including Rawdon, Wright, Hatch & Smillie
• It is Stephens's account, illustrated throughout by Catherwood, of their joint expedition documenting Maya ruins across Central America and the Yucatan
• The book was an immediate bestseller with a first-edition print run reported at 15,000 copies, and Harper & Brothers continued to reprint it from the same plates for decades afterward

How Harper & Brothers marked a first edition

• 1912-1949: month/year letter code on copyright page. Month: A=Jan, B=Feb, C=Mar, D=Apr, E=May, F=Jun, G=Jul, H=Aug, I=Sep, K=Oct, L=Nov, M=Dec (J skipped).
• Year code (J skipped): M=1912, N=1913 ... Z=1925, then A=1926, B=1927 ... Z=1950 (cycles).

Full Harper & Brothers first-edition guide →

How to verify your copy, step by step

1. Find the copyright page — the verso (back) of the title page.
2. Confirm the first-edition statement — look for “First Edition,” “First Printing,” or the publisher’s equivalent wording.
3. Check for a number line or dated printing — the lowest number present is the printing; a dated first printing with no later printings listed is the tell.
4. Rule out a book-club edition — a blind-stamp on the rear board or a jacket with no printed price marks a book-club copy.
5. Photograph four things — the front cover, spine, title page, and copyright page — the standard record for identification.

The dust jacket

For a collectible first edition the dust jacket matters as much as the book. Confirm the jacket is present and unclipped — the printed price should still be at the corner of the flap (a clipped corner or a price-less flap can indicate a book-club issue). First-state jackets can differ from later ones in the cover art, blurbs, or review quotations; where a specific first-state jacket point is known for this title it is noted above.

Binding & format

Where multiple bindings exist, the hardcover trade issue is usually (but not always) the precedence copy — confirm against the points above. Later printings often show cheaper cloth, thinner boards, or simplified spine stamping. A simultaneous signed or limited issue, when one exists, is a distinct state from the trade first.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

Harper & Brothers kept the plates in print for decades, issuing at least eleven later printings through 1871 carrying headings such as 'Twelfth Edition'; any copy whose title page states a printing or edition number is a later Harper reprint, not the true 1841 first.P-035985

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas, and Yucatan a first edition?

A first edition of Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas, and Yucatan by John L. Stephens (Harper & Brothers) is identified by: The true first edition was issued in two volumes illustrated with ninety-six engravings after Frederick Catherwood's drawings, including a folding map and a folding frontispiece, with plates cut by several New York engraving firms including Rawdon, Wright, Hatch & Smillie.

How do I tell the first printing from a later one?

Check the copyright page. A stated first edition, a number line ending in 1, or a dated first printing with no later printings listed is the key.

Is the book-club edition the same as the first?

Harper & Brothers kept the plates in print for decades, issuing at least eleven later printings through 1871 carrying headings such as 'Twelfth Edition'; any copy whose title page states a printing or edition number is a later Harper reprint, not the true 1841 first.

I have a first edition of Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas, and Yucatan — what should I do?

First, document the copy: photograph the copyright page (the number line and any edition statement) and the dust-jacket flap — an unclipped, priced jacket matters. Confirm the points of issue above against your copy, and use the free First Edition Checker to decode the printing. To sell, the author’s collecting guide covers the market. And if you are clearing books in the Albuquerque area, the New Mexico Literacy Project offers free pickup, any condition, and makes sure collectible copies are identified rather than discarded.

Glossary

First edition

Every copy printed from the first setting of type. Collectors usually want the first edition, first printing (the true first).

First printing / impression

A single press run from that setting. The first printing is the earliest and most desirable; later printings are still the first edition but not the true first.

Number line (printer's key)

A row of numbers on the copyright page (e.g. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1). The lowest number present is the printing — a line including 1 marks a first printing (Random House deliberately ends at 2).

Points of issue

Specific physical details — a stated edition, a number line, a typo, a jacket state — that identify the true first printing.

Book-club edition (BCE)

A reprint made for a book club. Tells include a blind-stamped dot or square on the rear board and a dust jacket with no printed price. Not the true first.

First thus

The first appearance of a particular version (first paperback, first illustrated, first U.S. printing) — a first of that kind, not the first edition of the work.