Identification points are listed only where two independent sources agree. Last reviewed 28 Oct 2026.
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The true first issue is the set of eight parts (Books I to VIII) in green printed paper wrappers, issued from December 1871 to December 1872, at five shillings a part, imprint Edinburgh and London: William Blackwood and Sons. Lewes proposed the eight parts so that together they cost the same £2 as a four-volume set. Blackwood issued a four-volume edition alongside, volume one dated 1871 and the rest 1872, in publisher's cloth (Bonhams sold one in blue cloth with half-titles). Sets in the original wrappers are rare and worth far more than bound copies; many sets were later bound up from the parts, sometimes keeping the wrappers and advertisements, and should be described as such. Check each part for its wrappers, half-title and advertisements.
Read the full guide to Blackwood first editions, decade by decade, and check your copy's copyright page against it. Our number line decoder reads the printing from the row of numbers.
This is the title page of a first edition copy. Compare yours: the imprint at the foot, the publisher, place and date, should match exactly. A later printing or edition usually changes the date or adds a line.
Title page of the first edition (1871). Scan: Internet Archive, via the Internet Archive. Public domain.
We have not yet confirmed the issue points that tell this first impression from later ones. Until we do, compare your copy's title page and copyright page with the publisher, place and year above: any later printing or edition statement means it is not this one.
Know the points? Tell us. We publish them, with credit, once a second source agrees.
Blackwood, Edinburgh, in 1871, in hardback.
Points of issue are listed only where at least two independent sources agree. Last reviewed 28 October 2026. Reviewed by Harriet Ellis; read how we check facts.
Points of issue are small, documented details, such as a misprint later corrected, a binding colour or a jacket price, …
Read the guide →7 min readTo identify a first edition, check that your copy is the first printing of the first edition. Read the copyright …
Read the guide →6 min readBook condition grading uses a six-step trade scale: Fine, Near Fine, Very Good, Good, Fair and Poor. Collectors grade the …
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