# Is "R.E. Lee: A Biography" by Douglas Southall Freeman a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of R.E. Lee: A Biography by Douglas Southall Freeman (Charles Scribner's Sons, 1934) is identified by: Four volumes, publisher's cloth. US Scribner (New York and London) is the true first: four volumes, volumes I-II in 1934 and volumes III-IV in 1935.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Four volumes, publisher's cloth
- First printings carry the Scribner capital 'A' on the copyright page of each volume; later printings lack it
- Volumes one and two appeared October 1934, volumes three and four April 1935
- Publisher imprint reads Charles Scribner's Sons
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Douglas Southall Freeman |
| Publisher | Charles Scribner's Sons |
| Year | 1934 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Four volumes, publisher's cloth |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
Four volumes, publisher's cloth. First printings carry the Scribner capital 'A' on the copyright page of each volume; later printings lack it. Volumes one and two appeared October 1934, volumes three and four April 1935.

## Is this the true first?
US Scribner (New York and London) is the true first: four volumes, volumes I-II in 1934 and volumes III-IV in 1935. Awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Biography in 1935.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
A true first set must be uniform first printings; verify the Scribner capital 'A' on the copyright page of each of the four volumes. Mixed-printing sets are common.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *R.E. Lee: A Biography* by Douglas Southall Freeman a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/re-lee-a-biography
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.