# Is "The Maine Woods" by Henry David Thoreau a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Maine Woods by Henry David Thoreau (Ticknor and Fields, 1864) is identified by: First edition, Ticknor and Fields, Boston, 1864 (published posthumously, edited by William Ellery Channing and Sophia Thoreau); BAL 20113. True first US (Ticknor and Fields, 1864), one of Thoreau's posthumous works.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First edition, Ticknor and Fields, Boston, 1864 (published posthumously, edited by William Ellery Channing and Sophia Thoreau)
- BAL 20113
- The key first-printing point is the list of Thoreau's books on page [ii]: it is PRICED in the first printing and unpriced in the second
- Copies appear in several cloth colors (green, purple, brown) among multiple cloth grains, with no established priority between binding states; spine cartouche variants ('Author of Walden' versus 'Author of Excursions') and presence or absence of a center wreath stamp likewise carry no priority
- Publisher imprint reads Ticknor and Fields
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Henry David Thoreau |
| Publisher | Ticknor and Fields |
| Year | 1864 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First edition, Ticknor and Fields, Boston, 1864 (published posthumously, edited by William Ellery Channing and Sophia Thoreau) |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
First edition, Ticknor and Fields, Boston, 1864 (published posthumously, edited by William Ellery Channing and Sophia Thoreau); BAL 20113. The key first-printing point is the list of Thoreau's books on page [ii]: it is PRICED in the first printing and unpriced in the second. Copies appear in several cloth colors (green, purple, brown) among multiple cloth grains, with no established priority between binding states; spine cartouche variants ('Author of Walden' versus 'Author of Excursions') and presence or absence of a center wreath stamp likewise carry no priority.

## Is this the true first?
True first US (Ticknor and Fields, 1864), one of Thoreau's posthumous works. First-printing status is set by the priced list of his books on page [ii] (per BAL); binding color and stamping variants do not establish precedence.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Later Ticknor/Houghton printings and the Riverside and Walden editions are reprints; confirm the 1864 imprint and the priced page-[ii] list. An inserted catalogue dated December 1864 is of no bibliographical significance. No book-club issue of the period.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Maine Woods* by Henry David Thoreau a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-maine-woods
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.