# Is "Poems by Emily Dickinson (First Series)" by Emily Dickinson (ed. Mabel Loomis Todd & T. W. Higginson) a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Poems by Emily Dickinson (First Series) by Emily Dickinson (ed. Mabel Loomis Todd & T. W. Higginson) (Roberts Brothers, 1890) is identified by: Dickinson's first book and first posthumous collection. US true first, 1890, Roberts Brothers, Boston (Dickinson published almost nothing in life).

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Dickinson's first book and first posthumous collection
- First edition, first printing: 'Roberts Brothers, 1890' on the title page, an edition of only about 500 copies, with the gilt-and-silver Indian-pipe (Monotropa) binding design by Mabel Loomis Todd, top edge gilt (Myerson A.1.1)
- The cloth occurs in more than one color (gray/white and olive-decorated variants) with NO established binding priority
- A known issue point in some copies is a binding/folding error placing 'This is my letter to the World' and the section-one introductory leaf within the table of contents
- Publisher imprint reads Roberts Brothers
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Emily Dickinson (ed. Mabel Loomis Todd & T. W. Higginson) |
| Publisher | Roberts Brothers |
| Year | 1890 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Dickinson's first book and first posthumous collection |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
Dickinson's first book and first posthumous collection. First edition, first printing: 'Roberts Brothers, 1890' on the title page, an edition of only about 500 copies, with the gilt-and-silver Indian-pipe (Monotropa) binding design by Mabel Loomis Todd, top edge gilt (Myerson A.1.1). The cloth occurs in more than one color (gray/white and olive-decorated variants) with NO established binding priority. A known issue point in some copies is a binding/folding error placing 'This is my letter to the World' and the section-one introductory leaf within the table of contents.

## Is this the true first?
US true first, 1890, Roberts Brothers, Boston (Dickinson published almost nothing in life). The title page reads 1890; do not confuse this with the Second Series (1891). Printings followed quickly. The genuine first has the 1890 imprint and the Indian-pipe binding; the various binding colors carry no priority.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Later printings and the separate Second Series (1891) and Third Series (1896) volumes are not the first. The first is distinguished by the 1890 Roberts Brothers imprint and the Myerson A.1.1 binding, not by any single binding color.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Poems by Emily Dickinson (First Series)* by Emily Dickinson (ed. Mabel Loomis Todd & T. W. Higginson) a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/poems-by-emily-dickinson-first-series
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.