# Is "My Life on the Plains" by George A. Custer a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of My Life on the Plains by George A. Custer (Sheldon and Company, 1874) is identified by: New York: Sheldon and Company, 1874, octavo, collating [5], 6-256, [2] pages, with a portrait of Custer under tissue guard and seven additional plates.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- New York: Sheldon and Company, 1874, octavo, collating [5], 6-256, [2] pages, with a portrait of Custer under tissue guard and seven additional plates
- First-edition copies are bound in publisher's cloth (recorded in brown, blue, maroon, and green) lettered in gold, with the front board stamped in gold and black with a gold buffalo head and stylized border, and the rear board decorated in blind
- The book grew out of a series of articles Custer wrote for Galaxy magazine beginning in May 1872, later expanded into this account of his 1867-69 campaigns against the southern Plains tribes
- Publisher imprint reads Sheldon and Company
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | George A. Custer |
| Publisher | Sheldon and Company |
| Year | 1874 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | New York: Sheldon and Company, 1874, octavo, collating [5], 6-256, [2] pages, with a portrait of Custer under tissue guard and seven… |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
New York: Sheldon and Company, 1874, octavo, collating [5], 6-256, [2] pages, with a portrait of Custer under tissue guard and seven additional plates. First-edition copies are bound in publisher's cloth (recorded in brown, blue, maroon, and green) lettered in gold, with the front board stamped in gold and black with a gold buffalo head and stylized border, and the rear board decorated in blind. The book grew out of a series of articles Custer wrote for Galaxy magazine beginning in May 1872, later expanded into this account of his 1867-69 campaigns against the southern Plains tribes.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *My Life on the Plains* by George A. Custer a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/my-life-on-the-plains
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.