# Is "Progress and Poverty" by Henry George a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Progress and Poverty by Henry George (Wm. M. Hinton & Co., Printers, 1879) is identified by: The true first edition is the "Author's Edition," printed at George's own expense in San Francisco by Wm. The 1879 San Francisco "Author's Edition" (200 copies) has priority over the 1880 D.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- The true first edition is the "Author's Edition," printed at George's own expense in San Francisco by Wm
- M. Hinton & Co. in a run of 200 copies, since no commercial publisher would initially take the book
- Most copies are bound in blue cloth (a purple-cloth variant is also recorded), spine lettered in gilt and decoratively stamped in blind, with pale pink endpapers; the half title is often trimmed away by later rebinders
- Some copies include a rare inserted leaf asking the recipient not to publish a review notice, since George anticipated hostile reception, and variant spine states exist with and without "Author's Edition" at the foot of the spine
- The first commercial trade edition followed in 1880 from D. Appleton & Co., New York, with 1880 on the title page, blind-stamped brown cloth, a half title, and eight pages of publisher's advertisements at the rear, printed from Hinton's original plates
- Publisher imprint reads Wm. M. Hinton & Co., Printers
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Henry George |
| Publisher | Wm. M. Hinton & Co., Printers |
| Year | 1879 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | The true first edition is the "Author's Edition," printed at George's own expense in San Francisco by Wm |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
The true first edition is the "Author's Edition," printed at George's own expense in San Francisco by Wm. M. Hinton & Co. in a run of 200 copies, since no commercial publisher would initially take the book. Most copies are bound in blue cloth (a purple-cloth variant is also recorded), spine lettered in gilt and decoratively stamped in blind, with pale pink endpapers; the half title is often trimmed away by later rebinders. Some copies include a rare inserted leaf asking the recipient not to publish a review notice, since George anticipated hostile reception, and variant spine states exist with and without "Author's Edition" at the foot of the spine. The first commercial trade edition followed in 1880 from D. Appleton & Co., New York, with 1880 on the title page, blind-stamped brown cloth, a half title, and eight pages of publisher's advertisements at the rear, printed from Hinton's original plates.

## Is this the true first?
The 1879 San Francisco "Author's Edition" (200 copies) has priority over the 1880 D. Appleton & Co. trade edition that introduced the book commercially; both are legitimately called first editions of their respective issue, with the Author's Edition being the true first.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Appleton kept the book in print for decades with updated title-page imprints and period printing statements; 20th-century reprints by the Robert Schalkenbach Foundation and other publishers are plainly dated and unrelated to the 19th-century originals.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Progress and Poverty* by Henry George a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/progress-and-poverty
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.