# Is "Woman in the Nineteenth Century" by Margaret Fuller a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Woman in the Nineteenth Century by Margaret Fuller (Greeley & McElrath, New York, 1845) is identified by: First edition: New York, Greeley & McElrath, 1845, issued in February 1845 as part of Horace Greeley's "Cheerful Books for the People" series. The American edition is the true first and the census claim is confirmed.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First edition: New York, Greeley & McElrath, 1845, issued in February 1845 as part of Horace Greeley's "Cheerful Books for the People" series
- Collation per library catalog records is vi, [5]-201, [1] pp
- The single most useful identification point is the author form on the title page: the 1845 first reads "By S. Margaret Fuller" — Fuller was unmarried and still signing as Sarah Margaret Fuller
- Any title page naming the author "Margaret Fuller Ossoli" is a later, posthumous edition, not this one
- There is no edition or printing statement to rely on; identification rests on the Greeley & McElrath imprint, the 1845 date, the "S. Margaret Fuller" author form, and the 201-page collation
- The book was a cheap-format popular title and copies are recorded both in publisher's cloth and in printed wrappers, the wrappered state being the scarcer; the first printing is reported to have sold out within about a week, which is why later 1840s-the printed price reprints are comparatively common
- Publisher imprint reads Greeley & McElrath, New York

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Margaret Fuller |
| Publisher | Greeley & McElrath, New York |
| Year | 1845 |
| True first | American edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First edition: New York, Greeley & McElrath, 1845, issued in February 1845 as part of Horace Greeley's "Cheerful Books for the People"… |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
First edition: New York, Greeley & McElrath, 1845, issued in February 1845 as part of Horace Greeley's "Cheerful Books for the People" series. Collation per library catalog records is vi, [5]-201, [1] pp. The single most useful identification point is the author form on the title page: the 1845 first reads "By S. Margaret Fuller" — Fuller was unmarried and still signing as Sarah Margaret Fuller. Any title page naming the author "Margaret Fuller Ossoli" is a later, posthumous edition, not this one. There is no edition or printing statement to rely on; identification rests on the Greeley & McElrath imprint, the 1845 date, the "S. Margaret Fuller" author form, and the 201-page collation. The book was a cheap-format popular title and copies are recorded both in publisher's cloth and in printed wrappers, the wrappered state being the scarcer; the first printing is reported to have sold out within about a week, which is why later 1840s-the printed price reprints are comparatively common.

## Is this the true first?
The American edition is the true first and the census claim is confirmed. Greeley & McElrath, New York, February 1845 precedes the first English edition, published in London by H. G. Clarke & Co. in the same year — Clarke's London issue followed the New York book and is collected as the first English edition, not as the first. Fuller wrote in English, so there is no original-language precedence question. The text itself is an expansion (by roughly a third) of her essay "The Great Lawsuit. Man versus Men. Woman versus Women" in The Dial (Boston, July 1843); the Dial appearance is the first printing of the earlier, shorter text, not of this book.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
The major first-thus trap is the 1855 Boston edition from John P. Jewett — the first expanded and first posthumous edition, edited by Fuller's brother Arthur B. Fuller with material assembled by Horace Greeley, adding essays and extracts from Fuller's journals and letters, and issued in blind-stamped brown cloth. It is routinely offered as a "first edition" because it is the first appearance of the enlarged text, but it is a reprint-plus of the 1845 book and carries the "Ossoli" author form. Later Greenwood Press, Norton Critical, Dover Thrift and similar reissues are modern reprints. No book-club issue exists for a title of this date.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Woman in the Nineteenth Century* by Margaret Fuller a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/woman-in-the-nineteenth-century
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.