# Is "Tales of Soldiers and Civilians" by Ambrose Bierce a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Tales of Soldiers and Civilians by Ambrose Bierce (E. L. G. Steele, San Francisco, 1891) is identified by: First edition: San Francisco, E. The census claim is confirmed: the American Steele issue (dated 1891, issued 1892) is the true first and precedes all other editions.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First edition: San Francisco, E. L. G. Steele, 1891 — BAL 1109
- The title page and copyright are dated 1891, but the book was actually issued in early 1892
- Bierce's own prefatory note refers to the 1892 appearance, and the standard dating convention is 'dated 1891, issued 1892.' Octavo, collating pp. [1-8] 9-300 [301-304: blank], with a flyleaf before the title leaf, the penultimate leaf blank and the final leaf excised
- Original cloth stamped in gold on the front and spine panels
- Currey records gray cloth as BAL binding variant A, while other ABAA dealers report first-edition copies in light green cloth, so more than one cloth is in circulation and cloth color alone is not determinative — the imprint, collation and excised final leaf are the reliable points
- There is no edition or printing statement and no number line
- Publisher imprint reads E. L. G. Steele, San Francisco

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Ambrose Bierce |
| Publisher | E. L. G. Steele, San Francisco |
| Year | 1891 |
| True first | American edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First edition: San Francisco, E. L. G. Steele, 1891 — BAL 1109 |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
First edition: San Francisco, E. L. G. Steele, 1891 — BAL 1109. The title page and copyright are dated 1891, but the book was actually issued in early 1892; Bierce's own prefatory note refers to the 1892 appearance, and the standard dating convention is 'dated 1891, issued 1892.' Octavo, collating pp. [1-8] 9-300 [301-304: blank], with a flyleaf before the title leaf, the penultimate leaf blank and the final leaf excised. Original cloth stamped in gold on the front and spine panels; Currey records gray cloth as BAL binding variant A, while other ABAA dealers report first-edition copies in light green cloth, so more than one cloth is in circulation and cloth color alone is not determinative — the imprint, collation and excised final leaf are the reliable points. There is no edition or printing statement and no number line. Contains nineteen stories in two sections, 'Soldiers' and 'Civilians,' and is the first book appearance of 'An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge.'

## Is this the true first?
The census claim is confirmed: the American Steele issue (dated 1891, issued 1892) is the true first and precedes all other editions. The first English edition is separately collected: London, Chatto & Windus, 1892, retitled 'In the Midst of Life: Tales of Soldiers and Civilians' (vi, 244 pp.), bound in blue cloth — the first edition to carry the 'In the Midst of Life' title, and the true UK first. Both editions are collected; name them separately. The G. P. Putnam's Sons, New York, 1898 issue under the 'In the Midst of Life' title is a revised and enlarged edition (expanded to twenty-two tales, and to twenty-six by 1909), not a first of any kind.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No contemporary book-club issue is documented. The principal trap is the New York, United States Book Company issue, printed from the first-edition plates and carrying the same E. L. G. Steele 1891 copyright on the copyright page — it is the second American edition and is regularly offered online as a 'first edition, first printing.' Check the foot of the title page: only 'E. L. G. Steele, San Francisco' is the first. Secondary traps are the 1898 Putnam revised edition and the Neale Collected Works redistribution of the stories; modern scholarly and trade reissues are 'first thus.'

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Tales of Soldiers and Civilians* by Ambrose Bierce a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/tales-of-soldiers-and-civilians
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.