# Is "Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant" by Ulysses S. Grant a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant by Ulysses S. Grant (Charles L. Webster & Co., 1885) is identified by: First edition, New York: Charles L.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First edition, New York: Charles L. Webster & Co
- (Mark Twain's publishing firm), volume I published in December 1885 and volume II in 1886, two octavo volumes of 584 and 647pp, illustrated with more than fifty engravings and maps plus several folding facsimiles, including a facsimile of the terms of Lee's surrender, in Grant's own hand, printed on yellow paper in volume II. The set was sold exclusively by subscription, through some ten thousand door-to-door canvassing agents, rather than through bookstores; order forms bound into the salesmen's prospectuses recorded five available bindings -- cloth, sheep, half morocco, full morocco, and tree calf -- with the standard trade issue in dark green cloth, gilt-stamped on both covers with a circular medallion reproducing the gold medal Congress awarded Grant on December 17, 1863, for the Mississippi River campaign
- Volume I carries a steel-engraved frontispiece portrait of Grant as a brevet second lieutenant of the Fourth Infantry, made from an 1843 daguerreotype and protected by a tissue guard
- Publisher imprint reads Charles L. Webster & Co.
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Ulysses S. Grant |
| Publisher | Charles L. Webster & Co. |
| Year | 1885 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First edition, New York: Charles L. Webster & Co |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
First edition, New York: Charles L. Webster & Co. (Mark Twain's publishing firm), volume I published in December 1885 and volume II in 1886, two octavo volumes of 584 and 647pp, illustrated with more than fifty engravings and maps plus several folding facsimiles, including a facsimile of the terms of Lee's surrender, in Grant's own hand, printed on yellow paper in volume II. The set was sold exclusively by subscription, through some ten thousand door-to-door canvassing agents, rather than through bookstores; order forms bound into the salesmen's prospectuses recorded five available bindings -- cloth, sheep, half morocco, full morocco, and tree calf -- with the standard trade issue in dark green cloth, gilt-stamped on both covers with a circular medallion reproducing the gold medal Congress awarded Grant on December 17, 1863, for the Mississippi River campaign. Volume I carries a steel-engraved frontispiece portrait of Grant as a brevet second lieutenant of the Fourth Infantry, made from an 1843 daguerreotype and protected by a tissue guard.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Personal Memoirs of U. S. Grant* by Ulysses S. Grant a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/personal-memoirs-of-u-s-grant
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.