# Is "Rudder Grange" by Frank R. Stockton a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Rudder Grange by Frank R. Stockton (Charles Scribner's Sons, 1879) is identified by: First edition, first printing (BAL 18874), following serialization in Scribner's Monthly.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First edition, first printing (BAL 18874), following serialization in Scribner's Monthly
- First-issue points include a signature mark 'I' at the foot of page one, the date set in italics on the title page, and the first page of publisher's advertisements headed by a listing for 'Mrs
- Frances Hodgson Burnett's Earlier Stories.' Bound in original green (or olive-green pictorial) cloth with gilt-and-black decoration on the spine and front board, blue coated endpapers, with double front flyleaf
- Publisher imprint reads Charles Scribner's Sons
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Frank R. Stockton |
| Publisher | Charles Scribner's Sons |
| Year | 1879 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First edition, first printing (BAL 18874), following serialization in Scribner's Monthly |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
First edition, first printing (BAL 18874), following serialization in Scribner's Monthly. First-issue points include a signature mark 'I' at the foot of page one, the date set in italics on the title page, and the first page of publisher's advertisements headed by a listing for 'Mrs. Frances Hodgson Burnett's Earlier Stories.' Bound in original green (or olive-green pictorial) cloth with gilt-and-black decoration on the spine and front board, blue coated endpapers, with double front flyleaf.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
A later Scribner's printing (BAL 18875) is a textually different setting that drops the original ending and adds two new chapters; it can be identified by the absence of a date on the title page and by advertisement pages naming later Scribner's titles (such as 'The Complete Writings of J. G. Holland') rather than the Burnett advertisement of the first issue.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Rudder Grange* by Frank R. Stockton a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/rudder-grange
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.