# Is "Wake-Robin" by John Burroughs a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Wake-Robin by John Burroughs (Hurd and Houghton, 1871) is identified by: Burroughs's second book and his first work of natural history, small octavo (6 the printed price x 4 the printed price in.), pp.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Burroughs's second book and his first work of natural history, small octavo (6 the printed price x 4 the printed price in.), pp. iv, 231, printed at the Riverside Press, Cambridge, with the title page printed in red and black (BAL 2135)
- Three first-edition cloth-binding variants are known, with no established priority among them, including a beveled green cloth and a non-beveled terracotta/brown cloth, both with the front panel stamped in black and gilt, the spine in gilt, and the rear panel blind-stamped, with light yellow coated endpapers throughout
- Any binding lacking the two-color title page or the Hurd and Houghton/Riverside Press imprint is not the first edition
- Publisher imprint reads Hurd and Houghton
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | John Burroughs |
| Publisher | Hurd and Houghton |
| Year | 1871 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Burroughs's second book and his first work of natural history, small octavo (6 the printed price x 4 the printed price in.), pp. iv, 231… |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
Burroughs's second book and his first work of natural history, small octavo (6 the printed price x 4 the printed price in.), pp. iv, 231, printed at the Riverside Press, Cambridge, with the title page printed in red and black (BAL 2135). Three first-edition cloth-binding variants are known, with no established priority among them, including a beveled green cloth and a non-beveled terracotta/brown cloth, both with the front panel stamped in black and gilt, the spine in gilt, and the rear panel blind-stamped, with light yellow coated endpapers throughout. Any binding lacking the two-color title page or the Hurd and Houghton/Riverside Press imprint is not the first edition.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Houghton, Mifflin (Hurd and Houghton's successor) kept Wake-Robin in print for decades, including a revised edition with an added chapter on the bluebird and later illustrated printings such as the Riverside and Riverby editions; these reset the type and drop the red-and-black title page and BAL 2135 binding points.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Wake-Robin* by John Burroughs a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/wake-robin
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.