# Is "Twenty-Two Years a Slave, and Forty Years a Freeman" by Austin Steward a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Twenty-Two Years a Slave, and Forty Years a Freeman by Austin Steward (William Alling, 1857) is identified by: The first edition's title page reads 'Twenty-Two Years a Slave, and Forty Years a Freeman; Embracing a Correspondence of Several Years, While President of Wilberforce Colony, London, Canada West.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- The first edition's title page reads 'Twenty-Two Years a Slave, and Forty Years a Freeman
- Embracing a Correspondence of Several Years, While President of Wilberforce Colony, London, Canada West
- Rochester: William Alling, 1857,' printed by A. Strong & Co
- It collates 360 pages, octavo, with four wood-engraved illustrations, and is bound in the publisher's gray cloth, titled in gilt and stamped in blind
- Steward's account is one of only two published 19th-century slave narratives centered on upstate New York — the other being Peter Wheeler's 1839 narrative — tracing his enslavement in the Genesee Valley and his later leadership of the Wilberforce settlement in Canada West
- Publisher imprint reads William Alling
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Austin Steward |
| Publisher | William Alling |
| Year | 1857 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | The first edition's title page reads 'Twenty-Two Years a Slave, and Forty Years a Freeman |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
The first edition's title page reads 'Twenty-Two Years a Slave, and Forty Years a Freeman; Embracing a Correspondence of Several Years, While President of Wilberforce Colony, London, Canada West. Rochester: William Alling, 1857,' printed by A. Strong & Co. It collates 360 pages, octavo, with four wood-engraved illustrations, and is bound in the publisher's gray cloth, titled in gilt and stamped in blind. Steward's account is one of only two published 19th-century slave narratives centered on upstate New York — the other being Peter Wheeler's 1839 narrative — tracing his enslavement in the Genesee Valley and his later leadership of the Wilberforce settlement in Canada West.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Steward's narrative was reprinted several times after 1857; by the stated Fourth Edition, issued 'Published by the Author' from Canandaigua, NY in 1867, the binding had changed to brown cloth rather than the first edition's gray — only the original 1857 Rochester, William Alling printing in gray cloth is the true first edition.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Twenty-Two Years a Slave, and Forty Years a Freeman* by Austin Steward a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/twenty-two-years-a-slave-and-forty-years-a-freeman
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.