# Is "Looking Backward: 2000-1887" by Edward Bellamy a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Looking Backward: 2000-1887 by Edward Bellamy (Ticknor and Company, 1888) is identified by: Published by Ticknor and Company, Boston, in January 1888.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Published by Ticknor and Company, Boston, in January 1888
- First-issue copies carry the printer's imprint 'J. J. Arakelyan' on the copyright page (verso of the title leaf) and contain the uncorrected misprint 'wore' for 'were' at page 210, line 8, corrected in later printings (per Bibliography of American Literature, BAL 956)
- The 470-page first edition is recorded in more than one cloth color variant, with both slate-gray and pea-green cloth catalogued as first-issue examples, the boards stamped in gilt and black
- Publisher imprint reads Ticknor and Company
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Edward Bellamy |
| Publisher | Ticknor and Company |
| Year | 1888 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Published by Ticknor and Company, Boston, in January 1888 |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
Published by Ticknor and Company, Boston, in January 1888. First-issue copies carry the printer's imprint 'J. J. Arakelyan' on the copyright page (verso of the title leaf) and contain the uncorrected misprint 'wore' for 'were' at page 210, line 8, corrected in later printings (per Bibliography of American Literature, BAL 956). The 470-page first edition is recorded in more than one cloth color variant, with both slate-gray and pea-green cloth catalogued as first-issue examples, the boards stamped in gilt and black.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
After Ticknor and Company's collapse, its stock and plates passed to Houghton, Mifflin & Co., which issued a revised second edition (September 1889) from new plates with textual emendations by Bellamy; most copies found today are these later Houghton Mifflin printings, lacking the Arakelyan imprint and the 'wore/were' misprint, and numerous later reprint-house and juvenile editions use different bindings again.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Looking Backward: 2000-1887* by Edward Bellamy a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/looking-backward-2000-1887
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.