# Is "Poems on Miscellaneous Subjects" by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Poems on Miscellaneous Subjects by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper (J.B. Yerrinton & Son, 1854) is identified by: The first edition's title page reads 'Poems on Miscellaneous Subjects.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- The first edition's title page reads 'Poems on Miscellaneous Subjects
- By Frances Ellen Watkins
- Boston: J.B. Yerrinton & Son, Printers, 1854.' Its brief preface, signed only with the initials 'W.L.G.' and dated August 15, 1854, has been identified by scholars as the work of William Lloyd Garrison
- The collection — Harper's first mature published volume of poetry — includes a small number of prose pieces alongside the verse and sold roughly 12,000 copies within its first four years, prompting numerous further printings during Harper's lifetime
- Publisher imprint reads J.B. Yerrinton & Son
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Frances Ellen Watkins Harper |
| Publisher | J.B. Yerrinton & Son |
| Year | 1854 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Poetry |
| Key point | The first edition's title page reads 'Poems on Miscellaneous Subjects |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
The first edition's title page reads 'Poems on Miscellaneous Subjects. By Frances Ellen Watkins. Boston: J.B. Yerrinton & Son, Printers, 1854.' Its brief preface, signed only with the initials 'W.L.G.' and dated August 15, 1854, has been identified by scholars as the work of William Lloyd Garrison. The collection — Harper's first mature published volume of poetry — includes a small number of prose pieces alongside the verse and sold roughly 12,000 copies within its first four years, prompting numerous further printings during Harper's lifetime.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Harper's collection was reprinted at least twenty times during her lifetime; one documented example is a 'Tenth Thousand' printing dated 1857 and imprinted 'Philadelphia: Merrihew & Thompson, Printers' rather than the original Boston imprint — a copy bearing that Philadelphia imprint or any 'Thousand' print-run notice is not the 1854 J.B. Yerrinton & Son Boston first edition.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Poems on Miscellaneous Subjects* by Frances Ellen Watkins Harper a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/poems-on-miscellaneous-subjects
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.