# Is "The Cotton Kingdom" by Frederick Law Olmsted a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Cotton Kingdom by Frederick Law Olmsted (Mason Brothers, 1861) is identified by: The first edition was published in two volumes, small 8vo, by Mason Brothers of New York in 1861, collating viii, 376 and iv, 404 pages.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- The first edition was published in two volumes, small 8vo, by Mason Brothers of New York in 1861, collating viii, 376 and iv, 404 pages
- Volume I carries a folding map, 'A Map of the Cotton Kingdom and Its Dependencies in America,' bearing Olmsted's facsimile signature printed in the lower right corner
- The set is bound in the publisher's green cloth boards with the spine lettered in gilt, and the text consolidates and abridges Olmsted's three earlier Southern travel volumes — A Journey in the Seaboard Slave States
- , A Journey Through Texas
- , and A Journey in the Back Country
- — into a single new work
- Publisher imprint reads Mason Brothers

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Frederick Law Olmsted |
| Publisher | Mason Brothers |
| Year | 1861 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | The first edition was published in two volumes, small 8vo, by Mason Brothers of New York in 1861, collating viii, 376 and iv, 404 pages |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
The first edition was published in two volumes, small 8vo, by Mason Brothers of New York in 1861, collating viii, 376 and iv, 404 pages. Volume I carries a folding map, 'A Map of the Cotton Kingdom and Its Dependencies in America,' bearing Olmsted's facsimile signature printed in the lower right corner. The set is bound in the publisher's green cloth boards with the spine lettered in gilt, and the text consolidates and abridges Olmsted's three earlier Southern travel volumes — A Journey in the Seaboard Slave States (1856), A Journey Through Texas (1857), and A Journey in the Back Country (1860) — into a single new work.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Because The Cotton Kingdom is itself a condensation of Olmsted's three earlier travel books, a genuine first edition must show the 1861 Mason Brothers imprint and the folding facsimile-signed map; the individual earlier travel volumes are distinct works, not variant printings of this one.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Cotton Kingdom* by Frederick Law Olmsted a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-cotton-kingdom
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.