# Is "The Leavenworth Case" by Anna Katharine Green a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Leavenworth Case by Anna Katharine Green (G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1878) is identified by: Putnam's Sons, 1878, under the full title The Leavenworth Case: A Lawyer's Story; octavo in publisher's cloth with gilt spine lettering — Christie's records terra-cotta cloth stamped in black on the front cover, while dealers also record dark green cloth, and no binding priority is established. US Putnam 1878 is the sole true first — the first bestselling American detective novel; there is no earlier or simultaneous UK edition (British printings came later).

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1878, under the full title The Leavenworth Case: A Lawyer's Story; octavo in publisher's cloth with gilt spine lettering — Christie's records terra-cotta cloth stamped in black on the front cover, while dealers also record dark green cloth, and no binding priority is established
- The folding facsimile-letter insert must be present, and first printings show a title page dated 1878 with no added printing notice (Putnam placed no statement on firsts but noted subsequent printings)
- One dealer additionally records a dropped 'F' on the last line of p
- 215; that point is not independently corroborated and should be treated as tentative
- Publisher imprint reads G. P. Putnam's Sons
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Anna Katharine Green |
| Publisher | G. P. Putnam's Sons |
| Year | 1878 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1878, under the full title The Leavenworth Case: A Lawyer's Story; octavo in publisher's cloth with gilt… |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
New York: G. P. Putnam's Sons, 1878, under the full title The Leavenworth Case: A Lawyer's Story; octavo in publisher's cloth with gilt spine lettering — Christie's records terra-cotta cloth stamped in black on the front cover, while dealers also record dark green cloth, and no binding priority is established. The folding facsimile-letter insert must be present, and first printings show a title page dated 1878 with no added printing notice (Putnam placed no statement on firsts but noted subsequent printings). One dealer additionally records a dropped 'F' on the last line of p. 215; that point is not independently corroborated and should be treated as tentative.

## Is this the true first?
US Putnam 1878 is the sole true first — the first bestselling American detective novel; there is no earlier or simultaneous UK edition (British printings came later). No UK-precedence question arises.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Later Putnam printings carry added printing notices, and the title was reprinted continually for decades — later title-page dates and non-Putnam imprints (including 20th-century reissues) are reprints.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Leavenworth Case* by Anna Katharine Green a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-leavenworth-case
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.