Is My Agnes Grey a First Edition?

The points of issue

• The true first is volume III of the Newby three-decker issued December 1847, in which Wuthering Heights by "Ellis Bell" fills volumes I-II and Agnes Grey fills volume III. Volume III has its own title page: "Agnes Grey
• A Novel, by Acton Bell, Vol
• III. London: Thomas Cautley Newby, 1847"; the Princeton Parrish copy collates 1 preliminary leaf and 363 pages
• A four-page publisher's advertisement leaf headed "New Works by Popular Authors" and dated November 1847 is bound at the back of volume III — a required point, noted independently by Parrish and by Bonhams
• Newby's printing is notoriously careless: wrong page numbers, missing and incorrect punctuation, and running-head misspellings ("Anges Grey", and "Heghts" in the Wuthering Heights volumes)
• Parrish records that title-page punctuation varies in volume II, and Anne Brontë's own copy carries her pencil corrections on 81 pages

How to confirm the first-printing statement

Publishers stated first printings differently by era. The decisive tells are a printed “First Edition/First Printing” statement, a number line whose lowest number is 1 (Random House ends at 2), or a dated first printing with no later printings listed. Paste your copyright page into the number-line decoder.

How to verify your copy, step by step

1. Find the copyright page — the verso (back) of the title page.
2. Check for a number line or dated printing — the lowest number present is the printing; a dated first printing with no later printings listed is the tell.
3. Rule out a book-club edition — a blind-stamp on the rear board or a jacket with no printed price marks a book-club copy.
4. Photograph four things — the front cover, spine, title page, and copyright page — the standard record for identification.

The dust jacket

For a collectible first edition the dust jacket matters as much as the book. Confirm the jacket is present and unclipped — the printed price should still be at the corner of the flap (a clipped corner or a price-less flap can indicate a book-club issue). First-state jackets can differ from later ones in the cover art, blurbs, or review quotations; where a specific first-state jacket point is known for this title it is noted above.

Binding & format

Where multiple bindings exist, the hardcover trade issue is usually (but not always) the precedence copy — confirm against the points above. Later printings often show cheaper cloth, thinner boards, or simplified spine stamping. A simultaneous signed or limited issue, when one exists, is a distinct state from the trade first.

Is this the true first?

Confirmed: there is no separate first edition of Agnes Grey. The true first is physically the third volume of Newby's 1847 Wuthering Heights three-decker, so it is almost never found alone, and a stray volume III on the market is a broken set rather than a self-contained first. Circulating libraries lent the volumes singly and later sold them off singly, which is why complete three-volume sets — not the individual books — are the rarity. No earlier or competing printing of the text exists.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

Not applicable — the book predates book-club publishing. The standing "first thus" trap is Smith, Elder's 1850 one-volume "Wuthering Heights and Agnes Grey. A New Edition Revised" (xxiv, 504 pp.), printing Wuthering Heights at pp. [1]-296 and Agnes Grey at pp. [297]-468 and adding Charlotte Brontë's "Biographical Notice of Ellis and Acton Bell" dated 19 September 1850 plus her "Editor's Preface". It is the first appearance of those two pieces and the first corrected text, and it is often mis-sold as a first — it is a second edition. Parrish notes its pagination jumps from xvi to [xix]. Smith, Elder's 1881 "A New Edition" is a further reprint.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Agnes Grey a first edition?

A first edition of Agnes Grey by Anne Brontë (as 'Acton Bell') (Thomas Cautley Newby, London) is identified by: The true first is volume III of the Newby three-decker issued December 1847, in which Wuthering Heights by "Ellis Bell" fills volumes I-II and Agnes Grey fills volume III.

How do I tell the first printing from a later one?

Check the copyright page. A stated first edition, a number line ending in 1, or a dated first printing with no later printings listed is the key. Confirmed: there is no separate first edition of Agnes Grey.

Is the book-club edition the same as the first?

Not applicable — the book predates book-club publishing. The standing "first thus" trap is Smith, Elder's 1850 one-volume "Wuthering Heights and Agnes Grey. A New Edition Revised" (xxiv, 504 pp.), printing Wuthering Heights at pp. [1]-296 and Agnes Grey at pp. [297]-468 and adding Charlotte Brontë's "Biographical Notice of Ellis and Acton Bell" dated 19 September 1850 plus her "Editor's Preface". It is the first appearance of those two pieces and the first corrected text, and it is often mis-sol

I have a first edition of Agnes Grey — what should I do?

First, document the copy: photograph the copyright page (the number line and any edition statement) and the dust-jacket flap — an unclipped, priced jacket matters. Confirm the points of issue above against your copy, and use the free First Edition Checker to decode the printing. To sell, the author’s collecting guide covers the market. And if you are clearing books in the Albuquerque area, the New Mexico Literacy Project offers free pickup, any condition, and makes sure collectible copies are identified rather than discarded.

Glossary

First edition

Every copy printed from the first setting of type. Collectors usually want the first edition, first printing (the true first).

First printing / impression

A single press run from that setting. The first printing is the earliest and most desirable; later printings are still the first edition but not the true first.

Number line (printer's key)

A row of numbers on the copyright page (e.g. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1). The lowest number present is the printing — a line including 1 marks a first printing (Random House deliberately ends at 2).

Points of issue

Specific physical details — a stated edition, a number line, a typo, a jacket state — that identify the true first printing.

Book-club edition (BCE)

A reprint made for a book club. Tells include a blind-stamped dot or square on the rear board and a dust jacket with no printed price. Not the true first.

First thus

The first appearance of a particular version (first paperback, first illustrated, first U.S. printing) — a first of that kind, not the first edition of the work.