The first edition of Anne of Green Gables, L.M. Montgomery’s first book, was published by L.C. Page and Company (Boston) in 1908. It includes eight full-colour illustrations by M.A. Claus and W.A.J. Claus, in addition to the uncredited cover image by George Gibbs.
{ Anne of Green Gables } { Anne of Green Gables: Editions } { L.C. Page and Company } { Editions: 1908–1919 }
Author
L.M. Montgomery
Title
Language
English
Country
United States of America
Publisher Location
Boston
Publisher
Publication Date
Format
Print, jacketed hardcover, 7.5” x 5.25”, x + 430 + 8 pp.
Illustrators
M.A. Claus and W.A.J. Claus
Cover artist
George Gibbs
Contents
(i) [Half-Title Page]
(ii) [Frontispiece]
(iii) [Title Page]
ANNE OF GREEN GABLES
By ¶ L.M. MONTGOMERY
Illustrated by M.A. and W.A.J. CLAUS
[Epigraph]
Boston [dingbat] L. C. Page & ¶ Company [dingbat] MDCCCCVIII
(iv) [Copyright Page]
(v) [Dedication]
(vi) [Blank Page]
(vii–viii) Contents
(ix) List of Illustrations
“‘There’s something so stylish about you, Anne,’ said Diana” / Frontispiece
“‘Matthew Cuthbert, who’s that?’ she ejaculated” / 33 [leaf inserted between pages 32 and 33]
“‘I hate you,’ she cried in a choked voice, stamping her foot on the floor” / 91 [leaf inserted between pages 90 and 91]
“They looked at her and whispered to each other” / 112 [leaf inserted between pages 238 and 239]
“Thwack! Anne had brought her slate down on Gilbert’s head” / 156 [leaf inserted between pages 156 and 157]
“Balanced herself uprightly on that precarious footing” / 257 [leaf inserted between pages 256 and 257]
“He pulled close to the pile and extended his hand” / 313 [leaf inserted between pages 312 and 313]
“‘Come, I’m going to walk home with you’” / 428 [leaf inserted between pages 428 and 429]
(x) [Blank]
(1–429) Anne of Green Gables, chapters 1–38
[Illustrations appear on the recto of unnumbered leaves, followed by a blank verso]
(n.pag.) [Blank Page]
(1–4) From L.C. Page & Company’s Announcement List of New Fiction
[Advertisements—consisting of bibliographical details, textual features, synopses, and praise quotes—for the following texts: Robert Lee Durham’s The Call of the South, Charles G.D. Roberts’s The House in the Water, Theodore Roberts’s Captain Love, T. Jenkins Hains’s Bahama Bill, Gamaliel Bradford, Jr.’s Matthew Porter, L.M. Montgomery’s Anne of Green Gables, and Helen M. Winslow’s Spinster Farm. This section is paginated 1 to 4.]
(1–4) Selections from L. C. Page and Company’s List of Fiction
[Listing—consisting of an inconsistent mix of titles, synopses, praise points, and retail prices—of several books under the subheading “Works of ¶ Robert Neilson Stephens”: The Flight of Georgiana: A Romance of the Days of the Young Pretender, The Bright Face of Danger, The Mystery of Murray Davenport, Captain Ravenshaw, The Continental Dragoon, Philip Winwood, An Enemy to the King, The Road to Paris, A Gentleman Player, and Clementina’s Highwayman. Similar listing of several books under the subheading “Works of ¶ Charles G.D. Roberts”: Haunters of the Silences, Red Fox, The Kindred of the Wild, The Watchers of the Trails, The Heart That Knows, Earth’s Enigmas, and Barbara Ladd. This section is paginated 1 to 4.]
Copyright Statement
Copyright, 1908 ¶ by L. C. Page & Company (Incorporated)
Entered at Stationers’ Hall, London
Printing History
First Impression, April, 1908 [altered to “June, 1908” in subsequent printings]
Second Impression, July, 1908
Third Impression, August, 1908
Fourth Impression, September, 1908
Fifth Impression, October, 1908
Sixth Impression, November, 1908
Seventh Impression, December, 1908
Eighth Impression, March, 1909
Ninth Impression, April, 1909
Tenth Impression, June, 1909
Eleventh Impression, August, 1909
Twelfth Impression, September, 1909
Thirteenth Impression, September, 1909
Fourteenth Impression, October, 1909
Fifteenth Impression, November, 1909
Sixteenth Impression, December, 1909
Seventeenth Impression, January, 1910
Eighteenth Impression, February, 1910
Nineteenth Impression, March, 1910
Twentieth Impression, April, 1910
Twenty-first Impression, May, 1910
Twenty-second Impression, June, 1910
Twenty-third Impression, August, 1910
Twenty-fourth Impression, October, 1910
Twenty-fifth Impression, December, 1910
Twenty-sixth Impression, February, 1911
Twenty-seventh Impression, April, 1911
Twenty-eighth Impression, April, 1911
Twenty-ninth Impression, August, 1911
Thirtieth Impression, September, 1911
Thirty-first Impression, November, 1911
Thirty-second Impression, July, 1912
Thirty-third Impression, September, 1912
Thirty-fourth Impression, January, 1913
Thirty-fifth Impression, May, 1913
Thirty-sixth Impression, August, 1913
Thirty-seventh Impression, December, 1913
Thirty-eighth Impression, Popular Edition (limited to 150,000 copies), May, 1914
Thirty-ninth Impression, February, 1915
Fortieth Impression, February, 1916
…
Fifty-second Impression, August, 1921
Publisher’s Description
Every one, young or old, who reads the story of “Anne of Green Gables,” will fall in love with her, and tell their friends of her irresistible charm. In her creation of the young heroine of this delightful tale Miss Montgomery will receive praise for her fine sympathy with and delicate appreciation of sensitive and imaginative girlhood.
The story would take rank for the character of Anne alone; but in the delineation of the characters of the old farmer, and his crabbed, dried-up spinster sister who adopt her, the author has shown an insight and descriptive power which add much to the fascination of the book.
Related Editions
Anne of Green Gables (Sir Isaac Pitman and Sons, 1908): reprinted from the plates of this edition.
Anne of Green Gables (Grosset and Dunlap, 1914): reprinted from the plates of this edition, omitting the illustrations.
Anne of Green Gables (L.C. Page and Company, 1925): reset and slightly modified text, with new illustrations.
Digitized Editions
2nd impression at HathiTrust: https://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=nyp.33433074904750
4th impression at Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/cu31924013243963/
11th impression at Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/anneofgreengable00mont_11/
Notes
Publisher’s description is taken from page 4 of “From L.C. Page & Company’s Announcement List of New Fiction,” included in the back matter of this edition. Epigraph and dedication are included.
Sources
Scan of the first-impression text provided by Robertson Library, University of Prince Edward Island. Images above are from this copy of that edition.