3 Bret Harte first editions are documented on this shelf, from Condensed Novels (1867) to Tales of the Argonauts, and Other Sketches (1875) across 3 different publishers. Each linked guide gives the points of issue that separate a true first printing of that Bret Harte title from later printings and book-club copies — the publisher and year to expect, the number-line or edition-statement conventions, and the tells that show up in online listings.
Identification only, per the house rule: no prices and no appraisals here. Checking a Bret Harte copy in hand? Type the title into the First-Edition Checker or photograph the copyright page with Snap & Sort.
- Condensed Novels — 1867 · G. W. Carleton & Co.First edition (BAL 7240), collating x, 307 pages, gathering fifteen literary parodies of authors including Charles Dickens, Charlotte Bronte, and Wilkie Collins, plus miscellaneous 'Civic Sketches,' illustrated throughout by Frank Bellew. This G. W. Carleton & Co. printing of 1867 is the true first appearance of the text in book form. Genuine first-edition copies are recorded bound in more than one contemporary…. A later 'enlarged edition' issued by James R. Osgood & Co. of Boston in 1871 (BAL 7255) is a different, later printing: it drops the original 'Civic Sketches' and other miscellaneous pieces, adds two new parodies ('Handsome is as Handsome Does' and 'Lothaw'), and carries new illustrations by S. Eytinge, Jr. rather than Frank Bellew. It is more commonly found on the market than the scarce 1867 Carleton first….
- The Luck of Roaring Camp and Other Sketches — 1870 · Fields, Osgood & Co.The book on which Harte's national fame rested. The genuine first issue (BAL 7246) was published without the story 'Brown of Calaveras,' collating viii,239 pages, and is bound in burgundy (terra-cotta) blind-stamped cloth with gilt spine lettering and brown endpapers. The expanded second issue (BAL 7247) added 'Brown of Calaveras,' collates iv,[4],256 pages, and appears in blind-stamped green cloth, also….
- Tales of the Argonauts, and Other Sketches — 1875 · James R. Osgood and CompanyFirst edition (BAL 7280), 12mo, collating [iv],283 pages. First-state sheets bulk 13/16 of an inch. Bound in original terra-cotta publisher's cloth with a blind frame on the boards, spine titled in gilt, chocolate-brown coated endpapers. Gathers further stories of the California Gold Rush that consolidated the Argonaut vein Harte had opened with The Luck of Roaring Camp.
More Literary Fiction (US) & Award Winners shelves: Bruce Chatwin, Bruce Sterling, Budd Schulberg, Carson McCullers, Celeste Ng, Charles Dickens.
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