# Is "The Mountains of California" by John Muir a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Mountains of California by John Muir (The Century Co., 1894) is identified by: First edition, octavo, 381 pages, with a frontispiece, 50 relief halftone text illustrations, and 2 maps.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First edition, octavo, 381 pages, with a frontispiece, 50 relief halftone text illustrations, and 2 maps
- First-issue copies carry the numeral '1' printed below the first line of text on page 1; later printings of the same year lack or alter this point
- Bound in publisher's light brown cloth, gilt-stamped title, with gilt-and-green ink stamped decoration on the spine and front cover, top edge gilt
- The book collects fifteen of Muir's magazine articles, some dating back to 1875, on the flora, fauna, and geology of the Sierra Nevada
- Publisher imprint reads The Century Co.
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | John Muir |
| Publisher | The Century Co. |
| Year | 1894 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First edition, octavo, 381 pages, with a frontispiece, 50 relief halftone text illustrations, and 2 maps |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
First edition, octavo, 381 pages, with a frontispiece, 50 relief halftone text illustrations, and 2 maps. First-issue copies carry the numeral '1' printed below the first line of text on page 1; later printings of the same year lack or alter this point. Bound in publisher's light brown cloth, gilt-stamped title, with gilt-and-green ink stamped decoration on the spine and front cover, top edge gilt. The book collects fifteen of Muir's magazine articles, some dating back to 1875, on the flora, fauna, and geology of the Sierra Nevada.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Later Century Co. reprints and subsequent reprint-house and paperback editions are reset and lack the gilt-and-green pictorial cloth stamping of the 1894 first.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Mountains of California* by John Muir a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-mountains-of-california
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.