# Is "Bracebridge Hall, or The Humorists, A Medley" by Washington Irving a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Bracebridge Hall, or The Humorists, A Medley by Washington Irving (John Murray, 1822) is identified by: Published under Irving's "Geoffrey Crayon" pseudonym in two volumes, with the American edition (C. 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.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Published 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 "Davsion" on page [ii] of volume one, corrected to "Davison" in a later state, and volume two's final page count varies, with one recorded state ending at page 404
- These states are cited to Langfeld's Irving bibliography (p
- 24) and to BAL, though BAL itself cautions that all copies issued by Murray under the 1822 date should be treated as of equal priority until further evidence establishes a firm sequence
- Because of that caution, the imprint and page-count differences are useful for identifying a Murray set but should not be read as ranking one state above another
- Publisher imprint reads John Murray
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Washington Irving |
| Publisher | John Murray |
| Year | 1822 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Published under Irving's "Geoffrey Crayon" pseudonym in two volumes, with the American edition (C. S. Van Winkle, New York) issued May 21… |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
Published 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 "Davsion" on page [ii] of volume one, corrected to "Davison" in a later state, and volume two's final page count varies, with one recorded state ending at page 404. These states are cited to Langfeld's Irving bibliography (p. 24) and to BAL, though BAL itself cautions that all copies issued by Murray under the 1822 date should be treated as of equal priority until further evidence establishes a firm sequence. Because of that caution, the imprint and page-count differences are useful for identifying a Murray set but should not be read as ranking one state above another.

## Is this the true first?
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.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
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.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Bracebridge Hall, or The Humorists, A Medley* by Washington Irving a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/bracebridge-hall-or-the-humorists-a-medley
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.