# Is "Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm" by Kate Douglas Wiggin a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm by Kate Douglas Wiggin (Houghton, Mifflin and Company, 1903) is identified by: Houghton, Mifflin and Company, Boston & New York, October 1903. US Houghton, Mifflin and Company, Boston & New York, 1903 is the true first, and the census is correct — Wiggin was American and the book was published in Boston in October 1903.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Houghton, Mifflin and Company, Boston & New York, October 1903
- Small 8vo / 12mo, in pictorial green cloth — light green cloth with darker green blindstamped ruling and a pictorial paste-on, with green and orange decoration and titling
- Two states are recognised and the sequence runs as follows
- Earliest state: the publisher's imprint on the spine is in type 1/16 inch high; page 325, line 9 reads 'Don't go to the side door;'; and page 327, line 13 reads 'sun of that October noon'
- Later issue: the publisher's spine imprint is the printed price inch high, and page 327, line 13 has been reset to read 'bricks, glowing in the October sun'
- CRITICAL CAVEAT for anyone using dealer listings — many invert this and advertise the printed price-inch spine imprint as a first-edition point
- Publisher imprint reads Houghton, Mifflin and Company

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Kate Douglas Wiggin |
| Publisher | Houghton, Mifflin and Company |
| Year | 1903 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Children's / illustrated |
| Key point | Houghton, Mifflin and Company, Boston & New York, October 1903 |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
Houghton, Mifflin and Company, Boston & New York, October 1903. Small 8vo / 12mo, in pictorial green cloth — light green cloth with darker green blindstamped ruling and a pictorial paste-on, with green and orange decoration and titling. Two states are recognised and the sequence runs as follows. Earliest state: the publisher's imprint on the spine is in type 1/16 inch high; page 325, line 9 reads 'Don't go to the side door;'; and page 327, line 13 reads 'sun of that October noon'. Later issue: the publisher's spine imprint is the printed price inch high, and page 327, line 13 has been reset to read 'bricks, glowing in the October sun'. CRITICAL CAVEAT for anyone using dealer listings — many invert this and advertise the printed price-inch spine imprint as a first-edition point. It is not; the 1/16-inch imprint is the earlier state. The sequencing rests on fedpo's stated criteria (Variety 1,A) together with an independent ABAA dealer who catalogues the printed price-inch imprint with the 'October sun' reading as 'First Edition, later issue' — the two agree, which is what establishes the order. Fedpo's own rationale is partly inferential (that a publisher would enlarge rather than shrink its spine imprint), so rely on the concurrence of the two sources rather than on that reasoning alone.

## Is this the true first?
US Houghton, Mifflin and Company, Boston & New York, 1903 is the true first, and the census is correct — Wiggin was American and the book was published in Boston in October 1903. The first UK edition is Gay and Bird, London, 1903, in publisher's orange buckram with gilt lettering to spine and boards; it followed the American edition and is properly catalogued as the first UK edition, not as a true first. Collectors of the title generally pursue the Houghton Mifflin first in its earliest state; the Gay and Bird is collected as the English first.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Houghton Mifflin reprinted the title continuously from the same setting while retaining the title-page date, and it was later reissued in numerous juvenile and school series; the 1931 and 2003 Houghton editions are later editions. Grosset & Dunlap and comparable reprint-house issues are reprints. Determine state by the spine-imprint height and the page 325 and page 327 readings, never by the title-page date. On the scarce jacketed copies the jacket is teal with navy lettering and is a priced jacket, with the price present at the spine/flap — a jacket lacking the printed price, or carrying a clipped or overprinted one, is a tell for a later issue.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Rebecca of Sunnybrook Farm* by Kate Douglas Wiggin a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/rebecca-of-sunnybrook-farm
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.