# Is "Life and Times of Frederick Douglass" by Frederick Douglass a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Life and Times of Frederick Douglass by Frederick Douglass (Park Publishing Co., 1881) is identified by: The true first printing's title page is set in 29 lines ending 'Hartford, Conn.: Park Publishing Co.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- The true first printing's title page is set in 29 lines ending 'Hartford, Conn.: Park Publishing Co
- 1881,' with no other cities listed below the imprint; a 31-line 1882 second printing adds the distributors Geo
- M. Rewell & Co. of Cleveland, J. S. Goodman & Co. of Chicago, Sun Publishing Co. of St
- Louis, and Phillips & Hunt of San Francisco beneath the Park Publishing Co. line
- First-printing pagination runs [i-iii] iv-xii [xiii-xiv blank] xv-xxiii [xxiv] [1-12 blank] 13-516 [517-18], and its table of contents lacks a chapter summary for Chapter XV that later printings added
- On page 336 the first printing misprints 'disproval' for 'disapproval,' an error not corrected until the third printing, and its copyright page carries only the two-line statement 'Copyrighted by Park Publishing Co., 1881.' The book is bound in dark red calico, blindstamped on the front and back boards with a rule-bordered box of floral and eagle-and-female devices and gold-stamped on the spine 'Life / and / Times of Fred'k Douglass' above 'Illustrated'; a parallel first-edition binding state has the front-cover devices gold-stamped rather than blindstamped, with gilt (rather than plain) trimmed edges
- Publisher imprint reads Park Publishing Co.

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Frederick Douglass |
| Publisher | Park Publishing Co. |
| Year | 1881 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | The true first printing's title page is set in 29 lines ending 'Hartford, Conn.: Park Publishing Co |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
The true first printing's title page is set in 29 lines ending 'Hartford, Conn.: Park Publishing Co. 1881,' with no other cities listed below the imprint; a 31-line 1882 second printing adds the distributors Geo. M. Rewell & Co. of Cleveland, J. S. Goodman & Co. of Chicago, Sun Publishing Co. of St. Louis, and Phillips & Hunt of San Francisco beneath the Park Publishing Co. line. First-printing pagination runs [i-iii] iv-xii [xiii-xiv blank] xv-xxiii [xxiv] [1-12 blank] 13-516 [517-18], and its table of contents lacks a chapter summary for Chapter XV that later printings added. On page 336 the first printing misprints 'disproval' for 'disapproval,' an error not corrected until the third printing, and its copyright page carries only the two-line statement 'Copyrighted by Park Publishing Co., 1881.' The book is bound in dark red calico, blindstamped on the front and back boards with a rule-bordered box of floral and eagle-and-female devices and gold-stamped on the spine 'Life / and / Times of Fred'k Douglass' above 'Illustrated'; a parallel first-edition binding state has the front-cover devices gold-stamped rather than blindstamped, with gilt (rather than plain) trimmed edges.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Do not confuse the 1881 first edition (518pp., Park Publishing Co.) with the substantially revised and enlarged edition from De Wolfe, Fiske and Co. of Boston -- copyrighted 1892 but not issued until 1893 -- which expands the book to roughly 752 pages with a new 'Third Part' of thirteen additional chapters bringing the narrative up to date, the final three of which cover Douglass's 1889-91 service as U.S. minister to Haiti; carrying the designation 'New Revised Edition,' the De Wolfe Fiske text is a different, later edition, not a reprint of the 1881 first.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Life and Times of Frederick Douglass* by Frederick Douglass a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/life-and-times-of-frederick-douglass
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.