# Is "Louisa Picquet, the Octoroon; or, Inside Views of Southern Domestic Life" by Louisa Picquet (as told to Hiram Mattison) a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Louisa Picquet, the Octoroon; or, Inside Views of Southern Domestic Life by Louisa Picquet (as told to Hiram Mattison) (Published by the author, 1861) is identified by: The first edition's title page reads 'Louisa Picquet, the Octoroon: or Inside Views of Southern Domestic Life,' while the printed wrapper of the same pamphlet carries the variant title 'Louisa Picquet, the Octoroon: A Tale of Southern Slave Life' — a genuine first-edition copy should show both titles, differing between cover and title page.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- The first edition's title page reads 'Louisa Picquet, the Octoroon: or Inside Views of Southern Domestic Life,' while the printed wrapper of the same pamphlet carries the variant title 'Louisa Picquet, the Octoroon: A Tale of Southern Slave Life' — a genuine first-edition copy should show both titles, differing between cover and title page
- It was issued by Hiram Mattison, the Methodist minister who interviewed Picquet and wrote up her account, from 5 & 7 Mercer Street, New York, in 1861, and it collates approximately 60 pages
- The pamphlet is structured as a transcribed question-and-answer narrative, with Mattison's commentary and supporting documentary evidence interspersed among Picquet's first-person testimony about slavery, concubinage, and her eventual self-purchase in New Orleans
- Publisher imprint reads Published by the author
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Louisa Picquet (as told to Hiram Mattison) |
| Publisher | Published by the author |
| Year | 1861 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | The first edition's title page reads 'Louisa Picquet, the Octoroon: or Inside Views of Southern Domestic Life,' while the printed wrapper… |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
The first edition's title page reads 'Louisa Picquet, the Octoroon: or Inside Views of Southern Domestic Life,' while the printed wrapper of the same pamphlet carries the variant title 'Louisa Picquet, the Octoroon: A Tale of Southern Slave Life' — a genuine first-edition copy should show both titles, differing between cover and title page. It was issued by Hiram Mattison, the Methodist minister who interviewed Picquet and wrote up her account, from 5 & 7 Mercer Street, New York, in 1861, and it collates approximately 60 pages. The pamphlet is structured as a transcribed question-and-answer narrative, with Mattison's commentary and supporting documentary evidence interspersed among Picquet's first-person testimony about slavery, concubinage, and her eventual self-purchase in New Orleans.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
The pamphlet was reissued in facsimile as part of the Schomburg Library of Nineteenth-Century Black Women Writers (Oxford University Press, 1988); that modern facsimile is not the 1861 first edition.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Louisa Picquet, the Octoroon; or, Inside Views of Southern Domestic Life* by Louisa Picquet (as told to Hiram Mattison) a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/louisa-picquet-the-octoroon-or-inside-views-of-southern-dome
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.