# Is "Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave" by Frederick Douglass a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave by Frederick Douglass (Anti-Slavery Office, 1845) is identified by: The title page reads 'Boston: Published at the Anti-Slavery Office, No. Boston, 1845, is the true first edition.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- The title page reads 'Boston: Published at the Anti-Slavery Office, No
- 25 Cornhill, 1845.' The true first printing is a 12mo of pp. xvi, 125, bound in blind- and gilt-stamped brown cloth with the title in gilt on the spine, and it carries an engraved frontispiece portrait of Douglass seated with his hands crossed in his lap
- The volume opens with a preface by William Lloyd Garrison, dated May 1, 1845, and a prefatory letter from Wendell Phillips, both integral to the first-edition text
- Dealers and bibliographers commonly cite Sabin 20711 and Work, p
- 474, as the standard bibliographic references
- Publisher imprint reads Anti-Slavery Office
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Frederick Douglass |
| Publisher | Anti-Slavery Office |
| Year | 1845 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | The title page reads 'Boston: Published at the Anti-Slavery Office, No |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
The title page reads 'Boston: Published at the Anti-Slavery Office, No. 25 Cornhill, 1845.' The true first printing is a 12mo of pp. xvi, 125, bound in blind- and gilt-stamped brown cloth with the title in gilt on the spine, and it carries an engraved frontispiece portrait of Douglass seated with his hands crossed in his lap. The volume opens with a preface by William Lloyd Garrison, dated May 1, 1845, and a prefatory letter from Wendell Phillips, both integral to the first-edition text. Dealers and bibliographers commonly cite Sabin 20711 and Work, p. 474, as the standard bibliographic references.

## Is this the true first?
Boston, 1845, is the true first edition. Dublin printings by the abolitionist printer Richard D. Webb, adapted with Irish-specific abolitionist content, followed later in 1845 after Douglass's arrival in Ireland, with a further revised Dublin printing in early 1846; none of the Irish printings precede the Boston original.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
The Narrative sold roughly 5,000 copies in its first four months and went through six further American printings between 1845 and 1849; any copy lacking the original blind-and-gilt brown cloth and the plain 1845 Anti-Slavery Office title page -- including all 20th-century facsimile and paperback reprints -- is not the first edition.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Narrative of the Life of Frederick Douglass, an American Slave* by Frederick Douglass a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/narrative-of-the-life-of-frederick-douglass-an-american-slav
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.