Identification points are listed only where two independent sources agree. Last reviewed 28 Oct 2026.
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A single octavo volume with the London imprint of Smith, Elder and Co., 1858, and no statement of printing. After the preliminaries (half-title and title) the text is paginated to 323. In the publisher's binding it is in dark green pebble-grained cloth, the covers stamped in blind and the spine lettered in gilt; endpapers are recorded as cream in one copy and yellow in another. L. W. Currey notes that several binding variants are possible and matches its copy to one of those recorded by Wolff. Many copies were rebound in half calf or half morocco, and rebound copies often lack the publisher's advertisements at the end, which dealers use to decide the issue, so check whether they are present.
Read the full guide to Smith, Elder 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 (1858). Scan: Oxford University, 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.
Smith, Elder, London, in 1858, 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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