# Is "Castle Rackrent: An Hibernian Tale" by Maria Edgeworth a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Castle Rackrent: An Hibernian Tale by Maria Edgeworth (J. Johnson, 1800) is identified by: First edition, published anonymously in January 1800 by Joseph Johnson (J. A rival Johnson printing from the same year is explicitly titled 'The Second Edition.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First edition, published anonymously in January 1800 by Joseph Johnson (J. Johnson) of St
- Paul's Church-Yard, London; no author's name or edition statement appears on the title page
- Shortly before publication, an English-narrator's introduction, glossary, and explanatory footnotes were added to the text to soften potential offense to English readers ahead of the 1800 Act of Union, and their presence throughout is a feature of the first-edition text
- The novel is sometimes regarded as the first regional novel in English and the first 'big house' Anglo-Irish novel
- Publisher imprint reads J. Johnson
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Maria Edgeworth |
| Publisher | J. Johnson |
| Year | 1800 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First edition, published anonymously in January 1800 by Joseph Johnson (J. Johnson) of St |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
First edition, published anonymously in January 1800 by Joseph Johnson (J. Johnson) of St. Paul's Church-Yard, London; no author's name or edition statement appears on the title page. Shortly before publication, an English-narrator's introduction, glossary, and explanatory footnotes were added to the text to soften potential offense to English readers ahead of the 1800 Act of Union, and their presence throughout is a feature of the first-edition text. The novel is sometimes regarded as the first regional novel in English and the first 'big house' Anglo-Irish novel.

## Is this the true first?
A rival Johnson printing from the same year is explicitly titled 'The Second Edition. 1800' on its own title page; genuine first-edition copies carry no edition statement at all, so the presence or absence of that phrase is the key precedence point between the two 1800 printings.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
The second edition of 1811 was the first printing to carry Maria Edgeworth's name on the title page; both 1800 printings (the true first edition and the same-year second edition) were issued anonymously.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Castle Rackrent: An Hibernian Tale* by Maria Edgeworth a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/castle-rackrent-an-hibernian-tale
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.