Identification points are listed only where two independent sources agree. Last reviewed 20 Oct 2026.
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The true first edition is American: Roberts Brothers, Boston, November 1884, after weekly serialisation in the Christian Union from May to November 1884. Macmillan published the novel in London in the same year as Ramona: A Story, which is the first UK edition. Look for the Macmillan imprint dated 1884. Later London printings exist (Open Library records a Macmillan new edition of 1887), and further editions followed around 1900, in 1911 and 1914; modern reprints such as the 1992 Fisher edition are not firsts. The Tauchnitz edition (Leipzig, 1885) is a Continental reprint, not a UK edition.
Read the full guide to Macmillan and Co. 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.
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.
Macmillan and Co., London, in 1884.
Points of issue are listed only where at least two independent sources agree. Last reviewed 20 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 …
Read the guide →