diff --git a/ChangeLog b/ChangeLog
index de0409e6..b7aaa693 100644
--- a/ChangeLog
+++ b/ChangeLog
@@ -1,5 +1,7 @@
 2019-11-09  Jay Berkenbilt  <ejb@ql.org>
 
+	* 9.1.rc1: release
+
 	* Improve behavior of wildcard expansion for msvc executable when
 	run from the Windows cmd.exe shell. The behavior is not identical
 	to UNIX or to running the mingw executable in that, for msvc,
diff --git a/autofiles.sums b/autofiles.sums
index 5f4a640f..98f12ef2 100644
--- a/autofiles.sums
+++ b/autofiles.sums
@@ -1,4 +1,4 @@
-766d1c21521da343b30d5518198e211cad1a049150ba15afb8dcaeaa2664f470  configure.ac
+71526b27e4150762173b05f34b757cfde83c249d4573a6095e5a20ad07fe9564  configure.ac
 d3f9ee6f6f0846888d9a10fd3dad2e4b1258be84205426cf04d7cef02d61dad7  aclocal.m4
 2e4cd495837be1b8454a4d8aef541b000988634be89d9c05a9cf5de67dffef5e  libqpdf/qpdf/qpdf-config.h.in
 5297971a0ef90bcd5563eb3f7127a032bb76d3ae2af7258bf13479caf8983a60  m4/ax_cxx_compile_stdcxx.m4
diff --git a/configure b/configure
index 2f670f04..49ae5719 100755
--- a/configure
+++ b/configure
@@ -1,6 +1,6 @@
 #! /bin/sh
 # Guess values for system-dependent variables and create Makefiles.
-# Generated by GNU Autoconf 2.69 for qpdf 9.0.2.
+# Generated by GNU Autoconf 2.69 for qpdf 9.1.rc1.
 #
 #
 # Copyright (C) 1992-1996, 1998-2012 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
@@ -587,8 +587,8 @@ MAKEFLAGS=
 # Identity of this package.
 PACKAGE_NAME='qpdf'
 PACKAGE_TARNAME='qpdf'
-PACKAGE_VERSION='9.0.2'
-PACKAGE_STRING='qpdf 9.0.2'
+PACKAGE_VERSION='9.1.rc1'
+PACKAGE_STRING='qpdf 9.1.rc1'
 PACKAGE_BUGREPORT=''
 PACKAGE_URL=''
 
@@ -1370,7 +1370,7 @@ if test "$ac_init_help" = "long"; then
   # Omit some internal or obsolete options to make the list less imposing.
   # This message is too long to be a string in the A/UX 3.1 sh.
   cat <<_ACEOF
-\`configure' configures qpdf 9.0.2 to adapt to many kinds of systems.
+\`configure' configures qpdf 9.1.rc1 to adapt to many kinds of systems.
 
 Usage: $0 [OPTION]... [VAR=VALUE]...
 
@@ -1436,7 +1436,7 @@ fi
 
 if test -n "$ac_init_help"; then
   case $ac_init_help in
-     short | recursive ) echo "Configuration of qpdf 9.0.2:";;
+     short | recursive ) echo "Configuration of qpdf 9.1.rc1:";;
    esac
   cat <<\_ACEOF
 
@@ -1616,7 +1616,7 @@ fi
 test -n "$ac_init_help" && exit $ac_status
 if $ac_init_version; then
   cat <<\_ACEOF
-qpdf configure 9.0.2
+qpdf configure 9.1.rc1
 generated by GNU Autoconf 2.69
 
 Copyright (C) 2012 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
@@ -2285,7 +2285,7 @@ cat >config.log <<_ACEOF
 This file contains any messages produced by compilers while
 running configure, to aid debugging if configure makes a mistake.
 
-It was created by qpdf $as_me 9.0.2, which was
+It was created by qpdf $as_me 9.1.rc1, which was
 generated by GNU Autoconf 2.69.  Invocation command line was
 
   $ $0 $@
@@ -16192,9 +16192,9 @@ ac_compiler_gnu=$ac_cv_c_compiler_gnu
 # * Otherwise, increment LT_REVISION
 
 # LT = libtool
-LT_CURRENT=26
-LT_AGE=0
-LT_REVISION=2
+LT_CURRENT=27
+LT_AGE=1
+LT_REVISION=0
 
 
 
@@ -18741,7 +18741,7 @@ cat >>$CONFIG_STATUS <<\_ACEOF || ac_write_fail=1
 # report actual input values of CONFIG_FILES etc. instead of their
 # values after options handling.
 ac_log="
-This file was extended by qpdf $as_me 9.0.2, which was
+This file was extended by qpdf $as_me 9.1.rc1, which was
 generated by GNU Autoconf 2.69.  Invocation command line was
 
   CONFIG_FILES    = $CONFIG_FILES
@@ -18807,7 +18807,7 @@ _ACEOF
 cat >>$CONFIG_STATUS <<_ACEOF || ac_write_fail=1
 ac_cs_config="`$as_echo "$ac_configure_args" | sed 's/^ //; s/[\\""\`\$]/\\\\&/g'`"
 ac_cs_version="\\
-qpdf config.status 9.0.2
+qpdf config.status 9.1.rc1
 configured by $0, generated by GNU Autoconf 2.69,
   with options \\"\$ac_cs_config\\"
 
diff --git a/configure.ac b/configure.ac
index 39fadcfa..4ecec891 100644
--- a/configure.ac
+++ b/configure.ac
@@ -2,7 +2,7 @@ dnl Process this file with autoconf to produce a configure script.
 dnl This config.in requires autoconf 2.5 or greater.
 
 AC_PREREQ([2.68])
-AC_INIT([qpdf],[9.0.2])
+AC_INIT([qpdf],[9.1.rc1])
 
 AC_CONFIG_MACRO_DIR([m4])
 AC_CONFIG_FILES([autoconf.mk])
@@ -52,9 +52,9 @@ LT_INIT([win32-dll])
 # * Otherwise, increment LT_REVISION
 
 # LT = libtool
-LT_CURRENT=26
-LT_AGE=0
-LT_REVISION=2
+LT_CURRENT=27
+LT_AGE=1
+LT_REVISION=0
 AC_SUBST(LT_CURRENT)
 AC_SUBST(LT_REVISION)
 AC_SUBST(LT_AGE)
diff --git a/libqpdf/QPDF.cc b/libqpdf/QPDF.cc
index 09de87e3..9e226dfa 100644
--- a/libqpdf/QPDF.cc
+++ b/libqpdf/QPDF.cc
@@ -24,7 +24,7 @@
 #include <qpdf/QPDF_Stream.hh>
 #include <qpdf/QPDF_Array.hh>
 
-std::string QPDF::qpdf_version = "9.0.2";
+std::string QPDF::qpdf_version = "9.1.rc1";
 
 static char const* EMPTY_PDF =
     "%PDF-1.3\n"
diff --git a/manual/qpdf-manual.xml b/manual/qpdf-manual.xml
index f8d453e5..4a817269 100644
--- a/manual/qpdf-manual.xml
+++ b/manual/qpdf-manual.xml
@@ -5,8 +5,8 @@
 <!ENTITY mdash "&#x2014;">
 <!ENTITY ndash "&#x2013;">
 <!ENTITY nbsp "&#xA0;">
-<!ENTITY swversion "9.0.2">
-<!ENTITY lastreleased "October 12, 2019">
+<!ENTITY swversion "9.1.rc1">
+<!ENTITY lastreleased "November 9, 2019">
 ]>
 <book>
  <bookinfo>
@@ -4620,7 +4620,7 @@ print "\n";
   </para>
   <variablelist>
    <varlistentry>
-    <term>9.1.0: XXX</term>
+    <term>9.1.rc1: November 9, 2019</term>
     <listitem>
      <itemizedlist>
       <listitem>
diff --git a/qpdf/qpdf.cc b/qpdf/qpdf.cc
index 0e634412..923aaa4c 100644
--- a/qpdf/qpdf.cc
+++ b/qpdf/qpdf.cc
@@ -34,7 +34,7 @@ static int const EXIT_WARNING = 3;
 
 static char const* whoami = 0;
 
-static std::string expected_version = "9.0.2";
+static std::string expected_version = "9.1.rc1";
 
 struct PageSpec
 {