8 George Eliot first editions are documented on this shelf, from Scenes of Clerical Life (1858) to Daniel Deronda (1876) across 4 different publishers. Each linked guide gives the points of issue that separate a true first printing of that George Eliot 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.
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- Scenes of Clerical Life — 1858 · William Blackwood and SonsFirst edition in book form, published 5 January 1858 in two octavo volumes by William Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh and London, in an edition of 1,050 copies. The title page carries the Blackwood imprint, the 1858 date, and the byline "George Eliot" — the pseudonym's first appearance on a book. Collation is [4], 366 pp. (vol. I) and [2], 381, [1 blank] pp. (vol. II); half-titles are called for in both volumes,…. The Blackwood two-volume issue of 5 January 1858 (Edinburgh and London) is the true first edition in book form and the edition collected; the census claim is confirmed. Only the UK edition is a genuine first. Note that the Blackwood book is the first collected appearance rather than the first publication of the text: the three stories — "The Sad Fortunes of the Reverend Amos Barton", "Mr Gilfil's Love-Story" and…. No book-club edition is possible for an 1858 Blackwood novel; the traps here are "first thus" reprints and rebinds. Blackwood reissued the work repeatedly, and the 1878 Cabinet Edition is among the settings most often mistaken for the first — any copy dated later than 1858, any single-volume Blackwood copy, or any copy with a new-edition statement on the title page is not the first. Harper (New York) and….
- Adam Bede — 1859 · William Blackwood and SonsThree volumes (Eliot's first full-length novel), title pages dated 1859, with publisher's advertisements bound at the rear of Volume III. Because the book reprinted very rapidly in its first year, the first impression carries no edition statement on the title pages; copies whose title pages read 'Second Edition,' 'Third Edition,' and so on are later impressions of the same year. The Blackwood three-volume edition of 1859 is the true first. The absence of any 'Second/Third Edition' notice on the title pages is the key check, given the fast reprinting. Title pages reading 'Second Edition' or later (1859) are subsequent impressions, not the first.
- The Mill on the Floss — 1860 · William Blackwood and SonsThree volumes, title pages dated 1860 (published 4 April 1860), issued in publisher's cinnamon/orange-brown cloth lettered and decorated in gilt. Earliest-state copies lack the advertisement leaf inserted in Volume I and carry rear advertisements in Volume III that cite Adam Bede in its seventh edition; copies with the inserted ad leaf and the eighth-edition Adam Bede advertisement are a slightly later state of…. The Blackwood three-volume edition of 1860 is the true first; it precedes the Harper American edition. Later one-volume Blackwood reprints are not the first edition.
- Silas Marner — 1861 · William Blackwood and SonsOne volume, William Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh and London, dated 1861 (published 2 April 1861). Verified first-edition collation features: half-title present; a four-page advertisement leaf for 'The Autobiography of Dr. Alexander Carlyle' bound in the front matter; and a terminal section of publisher's advertisements. Original cloth. The title-page carries no edition statement. The UK Blackwood 1861 single-volume edition is the true first; the US Harper 1861 edition is secondary. Title-pages reading 'Second Edition' or later are subsequent 1861 impressions.
- Romola — 1863 · Smith, Elder & Co.First edition in three volumes, London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1863, in original green textured (pebble-grain) cloth, boards paneled in blind with spines gilt-lettered and decorated; pagination iv, 336; iv, 333, [1 imprint]; iv, 292 pp., with half-titles present. The three-volume first is not illustrated — Frederic Leighton's designs belong to the Cornhill serial, not the book. Original cloth is very rare (the book…. The Smith, Elder three-decker is the true first, following serialization in the Cornhill Magazine (July 1862-August 1863). The English edition precedes the American: Harper & Brothers, New York, issued Romola in 1863 in a one-volume double-column format carrying most of the Leighton illustrations, but it is later than and secondary to the London three-volume edition. No prominent single first-state text error is generally cited; identification rests on the 1863 Smith, Elder three-volume collation, green cloth, and the Sadleir/Wolff references. Watch later Smith, Elder one- and two-volume reprintings and the illustrated Cabinet editions, which are not the first.
- Felix Holt, the Radical — 1866 · William Blackwood & SonsFirst edition in three volumes, Edinburgh & London: William Blackwood & Sons, 1866, with half-titles present and 4 pages of integral publisher's advertisements (no catalogue) at the rear of volume III. The publisher's binding is sand-grained cinnamon cloth, covers blocked in blind and spines lettered and ruled in gilt, edges untrimmed, with pale yellow coated endpapers. Standard references: Sadleir 814; Wolff…. The Blackwood three-decker is the true first. The English edition precedes/is concurrent with the first American edition (Harper & Brothers, New York, 1866); the London edition is the collected first. John Carter recorded five binding variants lettered A-E: A, B and C are regarded as simultaneous primary bindings with no priority established, and D and E follow. No book-club issue bears on the 1866 first; later Blackwood Cabinet and collected-set printings are reprints.
- Middlemarch — 1871-1872 · William Blackwood and SonsIssued in eight half-volume 'Books' in original printed paper wrappers, published bimonthly and irregularly from December 1871 to December 1872, an experimental serial-in-parts format. Each Book has its own title and number. First-issue points centre on the eight parts in original wrappers with their advertisements (advertisement states vary between parts), and an errata slip present in Book IV. The four-volume…. The UK Blackwood issue is the true first. The eight original parts in printed wrappers are the earliest state, issued in parallel with the four-volume cloth edition; no American printing precedes it in book form. Later one- and two-volume reprints and the Cabinet edition are not the first.
- Daniel Deronda — 1876 · William Blackwood and SonsIssued in eight monthly parts (the eight 'Books') in printed wrappers, February to September 1876, by William Blackwood and Sons; the four-volume cloth edition followed. In the parts: four half-titles and eight section titles as issued, advertisements to the parts, and errata slips present in the relevant parts. In the cloth issue, recorded first-issue points include the Volume I misprint 'reponsive' at page 83,…. The UK Blackwood 1876 issue is the true first; the eight original parts in wrappers are the primary form and precede the four-volume cloth edition. Later reprints and the Cabinet edition are not the first.
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