Washington Irving First Editions

• Salmagundi; or The Whim-Whams and Opinions of Launcelot Langstaff, Esq. and Others — 1807 · David LongworthIssued as twenty individually printed pamphlet numbers between January 24, 1807, and January 15, 1808, published by David Longworth, New York. Because the numbers were later gathered and rebound into two volumes, using title pages and parts printed at different times, 'first edition' copies are inherently a mix of variant part-states; BAL states plainly that 'the final collation of Salmagundi has not been…. Because Salmagundi was issued serially in wrappers over a full year rather than as a single first-edition book, priority attaches to the individual numbered parts in their earliest state, not to any single 'first edition' book -- collectors and BAL both treat this as a parts-issue. Bound reissues from Longworth's own stock in subsequent years, and 20th-century scholarly editions (including the 1977 Twayne critical edition, volume six of The Complete Works of Washington Irving, edited by Bruce Granger and Martha Hartzog), are readily distinguished from the original serial pamphlet parts by their unified printing and binding.
• A History of New York (Knickerbocker's History) — 1809 · Inskeep & BradfordFirst edition, two volumes, 12mo, dated 1809, published in New York by Inskeep & Bradford (the imprint also names associated firms including Bradford & Inskeep and other agents). Issued December 1809 in original boards with paper labels. A key physical point is the folding panorama plate of New Amsterdam following the preface in Volume I; a complete genuine first should retain this plate. Collation runs roughly…. US true first, 1809, Irving's first major book, two volumes. The famous Knickerbocker promotional hoax was a series of newspaper notices and advertisements placed before publication to drum up interest in the 'missing' Diedrich Knickerbocker; it was a pre-publication press campaign, not text bound into the book's preliminaries. Irving substantially revised the text in 1812 and again in 1848; the genuine first is the unrevised 1809 two-volume issue, ideally with the folding New Amsterdam panorama plate present.
• The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. — 1819–1820 · C. S. Van WinkleThe American first edition was issued serially in seven paper-wrappered parts (Nos. I–VII) printed by C. S. Van Winkle, New York, 1819–1820, with Part I dated 1819 and containing 'Rip Van Winkle' (No. VI carries 'The Legend of Sleepy Hollow'). Genuine parts are in their original printed wrappers. Recorded points include printing points in the first printings of Parts I, VI and VII; a copyright-infringement slip…. The US true first is the New York Van Winkle part-issue (1819–1820). The London Murray two-volume set (1820) is the first English edition. Complete sets of the original American parts in their wrappers are the earliest and scarcest state. Bound-up later editions and reprints lack the original numbered parts in wrappers; the genuine first is the part-issue with Part I dated 1819.
• Bracebridge Hall, or The Humorists, A Medley — 1822 · John MurrayPublished under Irving's "Geoffrey Crayon" pseudonym in two volumes, with the American edition (C. S. Van Winkle, New York) issued May 21, 1822 and the English edition (John Murray, London) following two days later, on May 23, 1822. Because Irving continued revising proofs while the London sheets were in press, the Murray edition is recorded in multiple states: an early state has the printer's imprint misprinted…. The New York (Van Winkle) and London (Murray) editions were published two days apart in May 1822 -- essentially simultaneous, which was standard practice for Irving and Murray to establish concurrent claims in both countries; neither edition should be described as simply "ahead of" the other. Putnam's later collected "Works of Washington Irving" and Henry Bohn's Standard/Popular Library reprints of the 1850s reset the text in uniform series bindings under Irving's own name, and do not reproduce the individual 1822 title pages, the "Geoffrey Crayon" attribution, or the Murray imprint states described above.
• The Alhambra: A Series of Tales and Sketches of the Moors and Spaniards — 1832 · Colburn & BentleyFirst published in 1832 by Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley in London -- title page reading 'By Geoffrey Crayon,' Irving's established pen name -- and, about three weeks later, by Carey & Lea in Philadelphia, whose title page instead reads 'By the Author of The Sketch Book'; a Galignani reprint titled 'The Alhambra; or, The New Sketch Book' followed in Paris the same year. The American first edition collates iv,…. The London Colburn & Bentley edition preceded the Philadelphia Carey & Lea edition by about three weeks in 1832, per booksellers' bibliographic notes; the Galignani Paris edition, issued under the variant title The Alhambra; or, The New Sketch Book, is a continental reprint rather than a competing true first. Irving's own revision, published in 1851 by G. P. Putnam as the 'Author's Revised Edition,' kept the original title The Alhambra but reorganized and enlarged the contents to 41 tales, most of them rewritten, rather than abridging them; it is a distinct, later text and should not be confused with the 1832 first edition. The now-common title Tales of the Alhambra belongs to later reprints, not to Irving's own 1832….
• A Tour on the Prairies — 1835 · John MurrayFirst published by John Murray, London, in 1835 (collation xiii, [1], 335 pp., 12mo, signed A6[-A1] a1 B-P12), preceding the Philadelphia Carey, Lea & Blanchard edition (BAL 10140) by about a month. Title page reads 'By the Author of "The Sketch-Book."' BAL records the London sheets in a first-issue, second-state variant (BAL 10139, setting B) -- the point collectors check copies against, since later Murray…. The London John Murray edition of 1835 precedes the American Carey, Lea & Blanchard edition; some older bibliographies (Sabin) record only a later London printing, so the true first must be checked against BAL's setting/state designations rather than assumed from a Sabin citation alone. Later American reprints, including 20th-century university-press editions (e.g., University of Oklahoma Press), are modern scholarly reprints clearly identified as such and not first editions.
• Astoria — 1836 · Carey, Lea & BlanchardPublished almost simultaneously in October 1836: Richard Bentley's London edition in three volumes, titled "Astoria; or, Enterprise Beyond the Rocky Mountains," and Carey, Lea & Blanchard's Philadelphia edition in two volumes (285 and 279 pages, plus an 8-page publisher's catalogue bound in at the rear of volume two), titled "Astoria, or Anecdotes of an Enterprise Beyond the Rocky Mountains." The…. The two editions were closely coordinated to appear within the same month of one another and neither has settled, unambiguous priority in standard bibliographies; American collectors generally treat the two-volume Philadelphia Carey, Lea & Blanchard printing as the American first edition, distinct from Bentley's three-volume London printing. G. P. Putnam later issued Irving's own single-volume "Author's Revised Edition" of Astoria, condensing the original multi-volume text with authorial revisions; a one-volume Putnam printing under this title is a later revised edition, not the 1836 first, which appeared in two volumes (Philadelphia) or three (London).
• The Adventures of Captain Bonneville — 1837 · Carey, Lea & BlanchardPhiladelphia: Carey, Lea & Blanchard, 1837, two volumes of 248 pages each, bound in original blue cloth with paper spine labels, each volume with a folding map as frontispiece and a publisher's catalogue bound in at the end of volume two (BAL 10151). Crucially, the American first edition is titled "THE ROCKY MOUNTAINS: OR, SCENES, INCIDENTS, AND ADVENTURES IN THE FAR WEST" on its title page -- not "The Adventures…. Bentley's London edition, titled "The Adventures of Captain Bonneville," is a separate, differently titled printing; the Philadelphia "Rocky Mountains" printing is the American first. Later American reprints retitle the book "The Adventures of Captain Bonneville" to match its now-familiar name, a change that began with Irving's own revised Putnam edition of 1849 ("The Adventures of Captain Bonneville, U.S.A., in the Rocky Mountains and the Far West"); a copy under that title on the title page is not the 1837 first edition, which must carry the original "Rocky Mountains" title.
• Wolfert's Roost and Other Papers, Now First Collected — 1855 · G. P. Putnam & Co.First edition, published by G. P. Putnam & Co., 12 Park Place, New York, in 1855, collating [5-7] 8 [9] 10-383, [384: blank] pages, with an inserted frontispiece and a separate vignette title leaf pasted to the stub of an excised leaf -- the key first-issue point, since later states have this pasted-leaf construction altered. A twelve-page publisher's catalogue dated 'Feb'y., 1855' is bound in at the rear; BAL…. Later Putnam and G. P. Putnam's Sons reprintings, and inclusion in collected 'Works of Washington Irving' sets, reset the text with series title pages and uniform cloth, omitting the pasted vignette-title-leaf construction and the dated 1855 ad catalogue.

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