Is My Resistance to Civil Government ('Civil Disobedience,' in Aesthetic Papers) a First Edition?

The points of issue

• The essay first appeared in print at pages 189-211 of Aesthetic Papers, a single-volume miscellany edited by Elizabeth Palmer Peabody, printed by John Wilson of Boston and running 248 pages
• The title-page imprint reads "Boston: The Editor" (Peabody herself, trading from her West Street rooms) with a secondary New York imprint for G. P. Putnam — so the census's shorthand "Elizabeth P. Peabody, Boston" is right in substance but the correct citation form gives the dual Boston/New York imprint
• Aesthetic Papers was planned as a subscription periodical but only this one number ever appeared, so there is no second issue, no second printing, and no edition statement to look for: any copy dated 1849 with this imprint is the first and only printing
• Copies were issued both in printed paper wrappers and in publisher's cloth; the Concord Free Public Library holds the two copies Peabody herself presented, one in the printed paper wrapper and one in cloth with the wrapper retained and bound in
• Wrappered copies are the form dealers single out as the desirable state

How to confirm the first-printing statement

Publishers stated first printings differently by era. The decisive tells are a printed “First Edition/First Printing” statement, a number line whose lowest number is 1 (Random House ends at 2), or a dated first printing with no later printings listed. Paste your copyright page into the number-line decoder.

How to verify your copy, step by step

1. Find the copyright page — the verso (back) of the title page.
2. Check for a number line or dated printing — the lowest number present is the printing; a dated first printing with no later printings listed is the tell.
3. Verify this is the UK true first — not a later-market or reprint edition.
4. Rule out a book-club edition — a blind-stamp on the rear board or a jacket with no printed price marks a book-club copy.
5. Photograph four things — the front cover, spine, title page, and copyright page — the standard record for identification.

The dust jacket

For a collectible first edition the dust jacket matters as much as the book. Confirm the jacket is present and unclipped — the printed price should still be at the corner of the flap (a clipped corner or a price-less flap can indicate a book-club issue). First-state jackets can differ from later ones in the cover art, blurbs, or review quotations; where a specific first-state jacket point is known for this title it is noted above.

Binding & format

Where multiple bindings exist, the hardcover trade issue is usually (but not always) the precedence copy — confirm against the points above. Later printings often show cheaper cloth, thinner boards, or simplified spine stamping. A simultaneous signed or limited issue, when one exists, is a distinct state from the trade first.

Is this the true first?

No UK edition and no precedence contest: this is an American-only first appearance, and the true first of the text is the periodical appearance in Aesthetic Papers (1849), not a separate book. The census claim is confirmed. Note the title trap the census correctly flags — in 1849 the essay is titled "Resistance to Civil Government"; the now-familiar title "Civil Disobedience" appears only posthumously in A Yankee in Canada, with Anti-Slavery and Reform Papers (Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1866), whose text differs only slightly from 1849 and whose authorial sanction scholars still debate. A copy titled "Civil Disobedience" is by definition not the first appearance.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club issue exists for an 1849 periodical. The reprint tell that matters is the 1866 A Yankee in Canada collection, which is a first-thus for the title "Civil Disobedience" but a reprint of the text; later Ticknor and Fields/Houghton collected editions and the many twentieth-century facsimiles and print-on-demand reissues of Aesthetic Papers (paperback reprints carrying modern ISBNs) are the common traps. Dealers also record that most surviving copies of the 1849 sheets came from unbound remainder stock found after Peabody's death, so a copy in a later or non-original binding is not evidence of a later edition — there was none.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Resistance to Civil Government ('Civil Disobedience,' in Aesthetic Papers) a first edition?

A first edition of Resistance to Civil Government ('Civil Disobedience,' in Aesthetic Papers) by Henry David Thoreau (Aesthetic Papers, edited by Elizabeth P. Peabody — Boston: The Editor; New York: G. P. Putnam) is identified by: The essay first appeared in print at pages 189-211 of Aesthetic Papers, a single-volume miscellany edited by Elizabeth Palmer Peabody, printed by John Wilson of Boston and running 248 pages.

How do I tell the first printing from a later one?

Check the copyright page. A stated first edition, a number line ending in 1, or a dated first printing with no later printings listed is the key. No UK edition and no precedence contest: this is an American-only first appearance, and the true first of the text is the periodical appearance in Aesthetic Papers (1849), not a separate book.

Is the book-club edition the same as the first?

No book-club issue exists for an 1849 periodical. The reprint tell that matters is the 1866 A Yankee in Canada collection, which is a first-thus for the title "Civil Disobedience" but a reprint of the text; later Ticknor and Fields/Houghton collected editions and the many twentieth-century facsimiles and print-on-demand reissues of Aesthetic Papers (paperback reprints carrying modern ISBNs) are the common traps. Dealers also record that most surviving copies of the 1849 sheets came from unbound

I have a first edition of Resistance to Civil Government ('Civil Disobedience,' in Aesthetic Papers) — what should I do?

First, document the copy: photograph the copyright page (the number line and any edition statement) and the dust-jacket flap — an unclipped, priced jacket matters. Confirm the points of issue above against your copy, and use the free First Edition Checker to decode the printing. To sell, the author’s collecting guide covers the market. And if you are clearing books in the Albuquerque area, the New Mexico Literacy Project offers free pickup, any condition, and makes sure collectible copies are identified rather than discarded.

Glossary

First edition

Every copy printed from the first setting of type. Collectors usually want the first edition, first printing (the true first).

First printing / impression

A single press run from that setting. The first printing is the earliest and most desirable; later printings are still the first edition but not the true first.

Number line (printer's key)

A row of numbers on the copyright page (e.g. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1). The lowest number present is the printing — a line including 1 marks a first printing (Random House deliberately ends at 2).

Points of issue

Specific physical details — a stated edition, a number line, a typo, a jacket state — that identify the true first printing.

Book-club edition (BCE)

A reprint made for a book club. Tells include a blind-stamped dot or square on the rear board and a dust jacket with no printed price. Not the true first.

First thus

The first appearance of a particular version (first paperback, first illustrated, first U.S. printing) — a first of that kind, not the first edition of the work.