# Is "The Biglow Papers, First Series" by James Russell Lowell a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Biglow Papers, First Series by James Russell Lowell (George Nichols, 1848) is identified by: First issue bears the Cambridge-only imprint on the title page, with no accompanying Boston or New York imprint, published pseudonymously as the work of "Hosea Biglow" with an editorial apparatus supplied by the fictional "Homer Wilbur." First-issue copies have the preliminary "Notice of an Independent Press" and prefatory notes tipped in at the front, as called for in the collation.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First issue bears the Cambridge-only imprint on the title page, with no accompanying Boston or New York imprint, published pseudonymously as the work of "Hosea Biglow" with an editorial apparatus supplied by the fictional "Homer Wilbur." First-issue copies have the preliminary "Notice of an Independent Press" and prefatory notes tipped in at the front, as called for in the collation
- Small octavo bound in embossed dark-brown cloth (BAL's binding A); cited as BAL 13068
- Publisher imprint reads George Nichols
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | James Russell Lowell |
| Publisher | George Nichols |
| Year | 1848 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Poetry |
| Key point | First issue bears the Cambridge-only imprint on the title page, with no accompanying Boston or New York imprint, published pseudonymously… |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
First issue bears the Cambridge-only imprint on the title page, with no accompanying Boston or New York imprint, published pseudonymously as the work of "Hosea Biglow" with an editorial apparatus supplied by the fictional "Homer Wilbur." First-issue copies have the preliminary "Notice of an Independent Press" and prefatory notes tipped in at the front, as called for in the collation. Small octavo bound in embossed dark-brown cloth (BAL's binding A); cited as BAL 13068.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
The Biglow Papers, Second Series (1867) is an entirely separate, later book responding to the Civil War era and is not a reprint of the 1848 First Series; later combined reprints of both series in one volume are not the 1848 original.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Biglow Papers, First Series* by James Russell Lowell a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-biglow-papers-first-series
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.