Elizabeth Gaskell First Editions

• Mary Barton: A Tale of Manchester Life — 1848 · Chapman and HallTwo volumes, published anonymously (Gaskell's first novel), Chapman and Hall, London, 1848. Issued in publisher's plum/purple cloth with gilt spine lettering and blind-stamped covers. No author name on the title pages. Published October 1848. The London Chapman and Hall 1848 two-volume edition is the true first. Issued anonymously; Gaskell's authorship is not stated on the title page. Later one-volume printings and editions bearing Gaskell's name are not the 1848 anonymous two-volume first.
• Cranford — 1853 · Chapman and HallFirst book edition, one volume, Chapman and Hall, London, 1853, in original cloth. Follows the serialization in Dickens's Household Words (1851-53). Title page dated 1853; first published June 1853 (a second printing followed in August 1853). The London Chapman and Hall 1853 one-volume edition is the true first book edition. Distinguish it from the Household Words serial appearance (1851-53), which precedes the book but is not a separate edition. Illustrated later editions (for example the Hugh Thomson illustrated edition of 1891) are 'first thus' only, not the first edition. A second printing appeared in August 1853.
• North and South — 1855 · Chapman and HallTwo volumes, first book edition, Chapman and Hall, London, 1855, in original brown cloth lettered in gilt with blind decoration. Follows serialization in Household Words (1854-55). The book text is revised and expanded over the serial: Gaskell's preface notes that short passages were inserted and new chapters added because the magazine format had constrained the story. The London Chapman and Hall 1855 two-volume edition is the true first book edition, carrying the expanded text versus the serial. Note that a second edition also appeared in 1855, so confirm first-edition status rather than relying on the year alone. A second edition was issued in 1855 (revising a misplaced passage), and later one-volume reprints are not the first. Verify the edition statement, not just the date.
• The Life of Charlotte Brontë — 1857 · Smith, Elder & Co.True first: London, Smith, Elder & Co., 1857, in TWO volumes, octavo, bound in the publisher's brown/chocolate cloth with covers decorated in blind and spine lettered in gilt; each volume has an engraved, tissue-guarded frontispiece and a facsimile-manuscript plate, pagination viii, 352 (vol. I) and viii, 327 plus terminal ads (vol. II). First-issue tells: the title pages carry NO edition statement (later…. The London Smith, Elder two-volume edition (1857) is the true first. A first American edition appeared the same year from D. Appleton & Co., New York (1857); it follows the London printing and is collected only as the first American, not the true first. Both the first and the second editions were recalled in May 1857 under threat of libel, after which the text was substantially revised for the third edition (the…. No genuine book-club issue for the 1857 first. Beware later Smith, Elder printings that state 'Second Edition' / 'Third Edition' on the title page, the revised (cleansed) third edition, and the many later one-volume revised reprints — all 'first thus,' not the first.
• Wives and Daughters — 1866 · Smith, Elder & Co.True first in book form: Smith, Elder & Co., London, 1866, in two volumes, large octavo, with eighteen wood-engraved plates by George du Maurier (ten in Vol. I, eight in Vol. II); Sadleir 936, Wolff 2428. Original binding is publisher's burgundy/maroon cloth, gilt; collation Vol. I [iv], 336 pp and Vol. II [iv], 332 pp. Published posthumously — Gaskell died in November 1865 leaving the story a chapter short —…. The London Smith, Elder two-volume issue of 1866 is the true first; a first American edition followed the same year from Harper & Brothers, New York (1866), a separate later-in-year setting, so London holds precedence. The novel was serialised in the Cornhill Magazine, August 1864–January 1866. The Harper (New York) 1866 issue is the American first, not a reprint of the London sheets; later reprints and one-volume/collected settings are 'first thus,' not the 1866 two-volume first.

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