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Special Collections - Rare Books: First Editions

Identifying First Editions

1726-27: Gulliver’s Travels, by Johnathan Swift

A collection of three volumes in 19th century binding. Gift from Thomas Y. Cooper.

1736: Poems on Several Occasions, by Stephen Duck

The only book he wrote while being raised to the upper class by Queen Caroline of England, his patron.

1749: The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, by Henry Fielding

1768: A Sentimental Journey through France and Italy, by Mr. Yorick (Laurence Sterne)

1818: Northanger Abbey and Persuasion in four volumes, by Jane Austen

1854: Walden, by Henry David Thoreau

Includes a title page illustration done by Thoreau’s sister, Sophia. Gift from Thomas Y. Cooper.

1840: Two Years Before the Mast: a Personal Narrative of Life at Sea, by Richard Henry Dana.

Gives insight into the adventures on a whaling ship in the 1840s. Gift from Thomas Y. Cooper.

1843: A Christmas Carol, by Charles Dickens.

1850: The Scarlet Letter, by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Gift from Thomas Y. Cooper.

1851: Moby Dick, by Herman Melville

1852: Uncle Tom’s Cabin, by Harriet Beecher Stowe, in two parts

Gift from Thomas Y. Cooper.

1869: Little Women, by Louisa May Alcott, in two parts

Gift from Thomas Y. Cooper.

1871: Little Men: Life at Plumfield with Jo’s Boys

First American edition. Two copies available, one being a gift from Thomas Y. Cooper.

1885: Adventures of Huckleberry Finn

Two copies available, one being a gift from Thomas Y. Cooper.

1920: Poems, by T.S. Eliot

Gift from Thomas Y. Cooper.

1925: The Great Gatsby, by F. Scott Fitzgerald

First American edition. Gift from Thomas Y. Cooper.

1926: The Murder of Roger Ackroyd, by Agatha Christie

First British edition. Gift from Thomas Y. Cooper.

1926: Winnie the Pooh, by A.A. Milne

Gift from Thomas Y. Cooper.

1930: As I Lay Dying, by William Faulkner

First edition, second issue.