Is My Barnaby Rudge: A Tale of the Riots of 'Eighty a First Edition?

The points of issue

• First separate edition, large octavo, collated (v-vi, iv),
• -306, 420 pp., with the two-page preface bound in before the title page; the unusual pagination reflects the fact that this edition was bound up from the original Master Humphrey's Clock sheets, retaining that periodical's page numbering (continuing Volume II's sequence to page 306, then restarting at Volume III) rather than being freshly reset
• Published 20 December 1841, though the title page itself is dated 1842, a postdating that should not be mistaken for a later edition
• Barnaby Rudge was originally serialized within Master Humphrey's Clock from February to November 1841 and issued separately as this one-volume book shortly after; the separate first-edition issue is markedly scarcer than the serial parts
• Original binding is red-brown (also recorded as dark grayish-red) fine-diaper cloth, blind-stamped with arabesque and flourish designs on the covers and gilt-lettered on the spine, illustrated throughout with engravings after George Cattermole and Hablot Browne, with marbled endpapers and edges

How Chapman and Hall marked a first edition

• No edition statement on early firsts: identify by title-page date, absence of later-printing wording, and (for serialized novels) by the original part-issue versus the bound volume.
• For Dickens part-issues (Pickwick, Nicholas Nickleby, Martin Chuzzlewit, Our Mutual Friend, Edwin Drood), correct plates/etchings, advertisement slips, and wrapper states are the diagnostic points; Pickwick is the classi…

Full Chapman and Hall first-edition guide →

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?

The Master Humphrey's Clock installments (February-November 1841) preceded this separate one-volume book issue; a three-volume Master Humphrey's Clock edition collecting both Barnaby Rudge and The Old Curiosity Shop together was also issued and is a distinct bibliographic item from the separate Barnaby Rudge volume.P-034986

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

Chapman and Hall's later Cheap Edition reset the text in a smaller, double-column format with different, fewer illustrations, readily distinguished from the large-octavo first edition and its Cattermole/Browne plates.P-034987

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Barnaby Rudge: A Tale of the Riots of 'Eighty a first edition?

A first edition of Barnaby Rudge: A Tale of the Riots of 'Eighty by Charles Dickens (Chapman and Hall) is identified by: First separate edition, large octavo, collated (v-vi, iv), (229)-306, 420 pp., with the two-page preface bound in before the title page; the unusual pagination reflects the fact that this edition was bound up from the original Master Humphrey's Clock sheets, retaining that periodical's page numbering (continuing Volume II's sequence to page 306, then restarting at Volume III) rather than being freshly reset.

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. The Master Humphrey's Clock installments (February-November 1841) preceded this separate one-volume book issue; a three-volume Master Humphrey's Clock edition collecting both Barnaby Rudge and The Old Curiosity Shop together was also issued and is a distinct bibliographic item from the separate Barnaby Rudge volume.

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

Chapman and Hall's later Cheap Edition reset the text in a smaller, double-column format with different, fewer illustrations, readily distinguished from the large-octavo first edition and its Cattermole/Browne plates.

I have a first edition of Barnaby Rudge: A Tale of the Riots of 'Eighty — 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.