# Is "The Gates Ajar" by Elizabeth Stuart Phelps a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Gates Ajar by Elizabeth Stuart Phelps (Fields, Osgood & Co., 1868) is identified by: Entered for copyright in 1868 and issued in November of that year, though some later printings carry an 1869 or 1870 date on the title page.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Entered for copyright in 1868 and issued in November of that year, though some later printings carry an 1869 or 1870 date on the title page
- 12mo, approximately 248 pp
- First-edition sets are recorded in more than one contemporary cloth-color variant (green, brown, and maroon cloth all recorded across dealer descriptions), typically with blind-stamped ruled borders on the boards and the title in gilt on the spine
- Publisher imprint reads Fields, Osgood & Co.
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Elizabeth Stuart Phelps |
| Publisher | Fields, Osgood & Co. |
| Year | 1868 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Entered for copyright in 1868 and issued in November of that year, though some later printings carry an 1869 or 1870 date on the title page |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
Entered for copyright in 1868 and issued in November of that year, though some later printings carry an 1869 or 1870 date on the title page. 12mo, approximately 248 pp. First-edition sets are recorded in more than one contemporary cloth-color variant (green, brown, and maroon cloth all recorded across dealer descriptions), typically with blind-stamped ruled borders on the boards and the title in gilt on the spine.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
The Fields, Osgood successor firm, by then operating as Houghton, Mifflin, had run some 55 further printings by 1884 and kept the book in print for decades; a genuine first-issue copy should carry the Fields, Osgood & Co. imprint, not that of the later successor firms.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Gates Ajar* by Elizabeth Stuart Phelps a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-gates-ajar
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.