# Is "Sailing Alone Around the World" by Joshua Slocum a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Sailing Alone Around the World by Joshua Slocum (The Century Co., 1900) is identified by: First printing has "1900" on the title page and a copyright page reading "1899, 1900" with no later printing noted; later Century printings are dated (copies dated 1901 and 1905 are recorded). The Century Co., New York, 1900 is the accepted true first: the text was serialized in the American Century Magazine across 1899–1900 before book publication, and the census claim of US precedence is confirmed.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First printing has "1900" on the title page and a copyright page reading "1899, 1900" with no later printing noted; later Century printings are dated (copies dated 1901 and 1905 are recorded)
- Bound in blue cloth pictorially stamped in silver and green with the Spray/seahorse design, top edge gilt, collating xvi, [2], 294 pp
- Illustrated with a frontispiece of the Spray and 64 illustrations by Thomas Fogarty and George Varian; a light-blue variant cloth is documented among first printings and does not by itself indicate a later issue
- Issued before the general use of pictorial jackets on this title — identification rests on the title-page and copyright-page dates and the binding
- Publisher imprint reads The Century Co.
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Joshua Slocum |
| Publisher | The Century Co. |
| Year | 1900 |
| True first | American edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First printing has "1900" on the title page and a copyright page reading "1899, 1900" with no later printing noted; later Century printings… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
First printing has "1900" on the title page and a copyright page reading "1899, 1900" with no later printing noted; later Century printings are dated (copies dated 1901 and 1905 are recorded). Bound in blue cloth pictorially stamped in silver and green with the Spray/seahorse design, top edge gilt, collating xvi, [2], 294 pp. Illustrated with a frontispiece of the Spray and 64 illustrations by Thomas Fogarty and George Varian; a light-blue variant cloth is documented among first printings and does not by itself indicate a later issue. Issued before the general use of pictorial jackets on this title — identification rests on the title-page and copyright-page dates and the binding.

## Is this the true first?
The Century Co., New York, 1900 is the accepted true first: the text was serialized in the American Century Magazine across 1899–1900 before book publication, and the census claim of US precedence is confirmed. A London edition was issued by Sampson Low, Marston; the sources consulted record its existence but do not fix its month, so it is treated as the first English edition following the American issue rather than a rival first. Collectors of the English market should name it as "first English edition (Sampson Low, Marston, London)" and not as the true first.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club issue is documented for the 1900 Century printing. Later Century printings are distinguished by dated copyright pages (1901, 1905 recorded); the numerous twentieth-century reprints (Dover, National Geographic, Penguin and the modern illustrated editions) are "first thus" traps and carry their own imprint dates.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Sailing Alone Around the World* by Joshua Slocum a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/sailing-alone-around-the-world
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.