# Is "The Golden Bough: A Study in Comparative Religion" by James George Frazer a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Golden Bough: A Study in Comparative Religion by James George Frazer (Macmillan and Co., 1890) is identified by: First edition is TWO volumes only, dated 1890, and critically carries the subtitle "A Study in Comparative Religion" on the title page — the single most reliable first-vs-later tell. UK first: Macmillan, London, 1890, in two volumes.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First edition is TWO volumes only, dated 1890, and critically carries the subtitle "A Study in Comparative Religion" on the title page — the single most reliable first-vs-later tell
- Bound in publisher's green cloth, spines lettered in gilt with a gilt mistletoe design blocked on the upper boards, edges uncut, with a publisher's catalogue (about 4 pp.) bound in at the end
- Confirmed against two independent sources (Burnside Rare Books and Bauman/other dealer descriptions) plus the Macmillan edition history
- Publisher imprint reads Macmillan and Co.
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | James George Frazer |
| Publisher | Macmillan and Co. |
| Year | 1890 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First edition is TWO volumes only, dated 1890, and critically carries the subtitle "A Study in Comparative Religion" on the title page… |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
First edition is TWO volumes only, dated 1890, and critically carries the subtitle "A Study in Comparative Religion" on the title page — the single most reliable first-vs-later tell. Bound in publisher's green cloth, spines lettered in gilt with a gilt mistletoe design blocked on the upper boards, edges uncut, with a publisher's catalogue (about 4 pp.) bound in at the end. Confirmed against two independent sources (Burnside Rare Books and Bauman/other dealer descriptions) plus the Macmillan edition history.

## Is this the true first?
UK first: Macmillan, London, 1890, in two volumes. This is a strong "first thus" trap — the three-volume second edition (1900) changed the subtitle to "A Study in Magic and Religion," the monumental twelve-volume third edition (1906–15) is the completed work and is separately collected, and the ubiquitous one-volume abridgement (1922) is neither. Presence of "Comparative Religion" in the subtitle and only two volumes distinguishes the genuine 1890 first.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
The one-volume 1922 abridgement (and its many reprints) is the item most often mistaken for the first edition; it is a later, condensed text, not a first-edition reprint. No book-club issue relevant to the two-volume first.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Golden Bough: A Study in Comparative Religion* by James George Frazer a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-golden-bough-a-study-in-comparative-religion
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.