# Is "A Mummer's Wife" by George Moore a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of A Mummer's Wife by George Moore (Henry Vizetelly, 1885) is identified by: First published by Henry Vizetelly in 1885 as a single volume in the publisher's 'Vizetelly's One-Volume Novels' series, a deliberate break from the standard three-volume, library-priced format that Moore and Vizetelly used to help bypass Mudie's circulating library.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First published by Henry Vizetelly in 1885 as a single volume in the publisher's 'Vizetelly's One-Volume Novels' series, a deliberate break from the standard three-volume, library-priced format that Moore and Vizetelly used to help bypass Mudie's circulating library
- W. B. Yeats later called it the first Naturalist novel in English
- Mudie's refused to stock it and W. H. Smith would not carry it on their bookstalls
- The novel proved a succes de scandale and went through numerous further printings within its first year, so the true first edition is specifically the earliest 1885 Vizetelly single-volume issue, printing Moore's original unrevised text
- Publisher imprint reads Henry Vizetelly
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | George Moore |
| Publisher | Henry Vizetelly |
| Year | 1885 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First published by Henry Vizetelly in 1885 as a single volume in the publisher's 'Vizetelly's One-Volume Novels' series, a deliberate break… |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
First published by Henry Vizetelly in 1885 as a single volume in the publisher's 'Vizetelly's One-Volume Novels' series, a deliberate break from the standard three-volume, library-priced format that Moore and Vizetelly used to help bypass Mudie's circulating library. W. B. Yeats later called it the first Naturalist novel in English; Mudie's refused to stock it and W. H. Smith would not carry it on their bookstalls. The novel proved a succes de scandale and went through numerous further printings within its first year, so the true first edition is specifically the earliest 1885 Vizetelly single-volume issue, printing Moore's original unrevised text.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Moore revised the text for later reprints, including a revised edition current by 1917; the unrevised single-volume 1885 Vizetelly text is the first edition.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *A Mummer's Wife* by George Moore a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/a-mummers-wife
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.