# Is "Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas, and Yucatan" by John L. Stephens a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas, and Yucatan by John L. Stephens (Harper & Brothers, 1841) 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.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- 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
- Publisher imprint reads Harper & Brothers
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | John L. Stephens |
| Publisher | Harper & Brothers |
| Year | 1841 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | The true first edition was issued in two volumes illustrated with ninety-six engravings after Frederick Catherwood's drawings, including a… |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## 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.

## 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.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Incidents of Travel in Central America, Chiapas, and Yucatan* by John L. Stephens a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/incidents-of-travel-in-central-america-chiapas-and-yucatan
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.