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Robert's Rules of Order has been revised many times since General Henry M. Robert first published his parliamentary guide in 1876. Here is a complete history of every edition.
There is no such thing as an “official” Robert's Rules of Order — the official version is whichever edition your organization adopts. Parliamentary procedure is not law, and no outside authority anoints one version. General Robert's own editions are public domain; every later edition is simply a private publisher's continuation. Your bylaws are what make an edition official for your assembly.
Pocket Manual of Rules of Order for Deliberative Assemblies. The original 176-page book, based on House of Representatives procedures adapted for ordinary societies. Robert self-published it after struggling to chair a church meeting and realizing there was no standard guide for non-legislative bodies.
Published the same year with minor corrections. Robert distributed copies to parliamentarians and organizations across the country to gather feedback.
Renamed Robert's Rules of Order Revised. Substantially expanded based on nearly two decades of feedback. Added detailed guidance on committees, nominations, and bylaws.
Robert's Rules of Order Revised (Fourth Edition). The last edition prepared by General Robert himself (he died in 1923). Greatly expanded to 324 pages. This edition entered the public domain and is the text available free on this site.
General Robert's own editions are public domain: anyone may republish, modernize, or build on them, and many publishers have. Each work below is a private publisher's continuation of the same public-domain text. None is “official.”
The best-known continuation. After trustee-prepared revisions of the original in 1943 and 1951, the “Newly Revised” series began in 1970 as a complete reworking of the book undertaken to maintain copyright as protection on General Robert's original editions ran out — as reported in The New York Times — not because the original required correction. Editions followed in 1981, 1990, 2000, 2011, and 2020, the 12th edition (2020) being the latest, with expanded treatment of electronic meetings and email voting. Only the material newly added in each edition carries a fresh copyright; the underlying system remains public domain.
A complete modern-language revision of Robert's original text by parliamentarian Darwin Patnode, a past president of the American Institute of Parliamentarians.
A modernized edition organized for quick reference in contemporary organizations.
A concise plain-language guide to Robert's system (2nd edition, 2005).
A simplified, applied treatment of the rules, now in its third edition.
Many annotated reprints of the public-domain 1915 text are also in print — and its full text is free on this site.
There is no single “official” edition of Robert's Rules. Parliamentary procedure is not law, and no authority anoints one version — an assembly's parliamentary authority is simply whatever it adopts in its bylaws. Every edition is a legitimate choice.
If you are free to choose — or your bylaws refer to “Robert's Rules of Order” without naming an edition — the public-domain 1915 (4th) edition, available free on this site, is General Robert's own complete text and a fully valid authority to adopt.
Whichever you choose, name the specific edition in your bylaws to avoid confusion.