The Gates Ajar

Early printings, from Fields & Osgood, all had no date other than the copyright date. Distinguishing points:

• First printing has "nears" in the second line of the dedication;
• Third and later printings have "approaches" in the second line of the dedication;
• Substantially later printings (after 1890?) have a list of books opposite the title page, which gives an indication of the printing date.

Alternate description ("A Practical Guide to American Book Collecting (1663-1940)", Whitman Bennett, 1941): The end of the first line of the dedication in the first issue must read "nears it" (later changed to "approaches it"); and the earliest type state of this first issue has an apostrophe at the end of Line I, P. 60, this apostrophe disappearing early during the course of printing.
    There exists a copy of the third (or later) printing with an inscription dated 1869, so we know that at least the first three printings were produced in 1869. Copies also exist with a publication date of 1870, confirmed by inscriptions, so it is likely that all copies listed as just "© 1869" came out either that year or in early 1870. There are also 1870 editions from Sampson Low and from Routledge. "The Heaven presented by [MarkTwain in "Extract from Captain Stormfield's Visit to Heaven"] is a lot like that described by Elizabeth Stuart Phelps in THE GATES AJAR, which Twain had read years before, and which he mentions in the text." -- Kevin MacDonnell (Mac Donnell Rare Books), © 1998 "Firsts Magazine, Inc.".