# Is "Poems: Third Series" by Emily Dickinson a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Poems: Third Series by Emily Dickinson (Roberts Brothers, 1896) is identified by: Third and final nineteenth-century posthumous gathering, edited by Mabel Loomis Todd, printed in an edition of 1,000 copies.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Third and final nineteenth-century posthumous gathering, edited by Mabel Loomis Todd, printed in an edition of 1,000 copies
- The first printing, dated April 1896, is distinguished from a second printing issued the same year in September 1896; reference works cite Myerson A4.1a and BAL 4661 for the first printing
- Binding variants exist with no firm priority established: publisher's gray-green cloth over beveled boards stamped in gilt with a ghost-flower ("Indian pipes") motif, top edge gilt, wove-paper text leaves with laid-paper flyleaves, and a white ribbon page-marker bound in
- Publisher imprint reads Roberts Brothers
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Emily Dickinson |
| Publisher | Roberts Brothers |
| Year | 1896 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Poetry |
| Key point | Third and final nineteenth-century posthumous gathering, edited by Mabel Loomis Todd, printed in an edition of 1,000 copies |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
Third and final nineteenth-century posthumous gathering, edited by Mabel Loomis Todd, printed in an edition of 1,000 copies. The first printing, dated April 1896, is distinguished from a second printing issued the same year in September 1896; reference works cite Myerson A4.1a and BAL 4661 for the first printing. Binding variants exist with no firm priority established: publisher's gray-green cloth over beveled boards stamped in gilt with a ghost-flower ("Indian pipes") motif, top edge gilt, wove-paper text leaves with laid-paper flyleaves, and a white ribbon page-marker bound in.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Because a second printing followed within the same calendar year, a "1896" title-page date alone does not guarantee the first printing; the April-versus-September points (and the presence of the bound-in ribbon marker) should be checked against a Dickinson bibliography such as Myerson.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Poems: Third Series* by Emily Dickinson a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/poems-third-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.