Is My Copy of Confessions of an English Opium-Eater a First Edition?

The points of issue

• First edition in book form: 'Printed for Taylor and Hessey,' London, 1822, printed by J. Moyes of Greville Street
• 12mo, approx. 185 x 112 mm, collating vi, 206 pp. including the half-title — the half-title should be present
• Published anonymously: De Quincey's name appears nowhere in the book, and it was decades before he allowed it onto a title page
• Issued in original grey-brown paper-covered boards with a printed spine label; rare thus, and the great majority of surviving copies were rebound in contemporary calf or later morocco
• A terminal leaf of advertisements is found in some copies and not others, apparently varying by intended retailer or destination; its presence or absence is a recorded variation rather than a settled priority point, and dealers describe copies without it as 'likely as issued.' Do not treat the ad leaf as decisive either way

How to confirm the first-printing statement

Publishers stated first printings differently by era. The decisive tells are a printed “First Edition/First Printing” statement, a number line whose lowest number is 1 (Random House ends at 2), or a dated first printing with no later printings listed. Paste your copyright page into the number-line decoder.

How to verify your copy, step by step

1. Find the copyright page — the verso (back) of the title page.
2. Confirm the first-edition statement — look for “First Edition,” “First Printing,” or the publisher’s equivalent wording.
3. 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.
4. Verify this is the UK true first — not a later-market or reprint edition.
5. 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.
6. 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 Confessions first appeared anonymously in serial form in The London Magazine, September and October 1821; the anonymous Taylor and Hessey book of 1822 is the first edition in book form and is the collected first. There is no UK-versus-US precedence contest for the first edition — it is a London book, and American printings follow. The 1856 revision is a genuine 'first thus' trap and a distinct text: preparing the first collected edition of his works for Edinburgh publisher James Hogg, De Quincey undertook a large-scale revision that more than doubled the length of the Confessions, and that revised text first appeared in Volume V of 'Selections Grave and Gay, from Writings Published and Unpublished, of Thomas De Quincey' (Edinburgh: James Hogg; London: R. Groombridge & Sons, 1856). Most critics hold the 1822 original artistically superior to the digressive 1856 expansion. A copy of the 1856 revised text is the first edition of that text only, never of the work.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club issue is documented for an 1822 title. The tells to watch are the many later reprintings of what is a short, endlessly reissued book: the American collected 'De Quincey's Writings' (Boston: Ticknor, Reed & Fields, from 1850) carries an expanded text, the 1856 Hogg 'Selections Grave and Gay' Volume V carries the revised text, and 19th- and 20th-century trade, Everyman and Modern Library issues reprint one or the other. Any copy naming De Quincey on the title page is by definition not the 1822 anonymous first.P-041564

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Confessions of an English Opium-Eater a first edition?

A first edition of Confessions of an English Opium-Eater by Thomas De Quincey (Taylor and Hessey, London) is identified by: First edition in book form: 'Printed for Taylor and Hessey,' London, 1822, printed by J. Moyes of Greville Street.

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 Confessions first appeared anonymously in serial form in The London Magazine, September and October 1821; the anonymous Taylor and Hessey book of 1822 is the first edition in book form and is the collected first.

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

No book-club issue is documented for an 1822 title. The tells to watch are the many later reprintings of what is a short, endlessly reissued book: the American collected 'De Quincey's Writings' (Boston: Ticknor, Reed & Fields, from 1850) carries an expanded text, the 1856 Hogg 'Selections Grave and Gay' Volume V carries the revised text, and 19th- and 20th-century trade, Everyman and Modern Library issues reprint one or the other.

I have a first edition of Confessions of an English Opium-Eater — what should I do?

First, document the copy: photograph the copyright page (the number line and any edition statement) and the dust-jacket flap. Confirm the points of issue above against your copy, and decode the printing with the free First Edition Checker. Clearing out books? I take them as a free donation and make sure collectible copies are identified, not discarded: free pickup in the Albuquerque metro (scheduled by route), the 24/7 drop box at 5445 Edith Blvd NE, or donor-paid mail-in from anywhere in the US. Questions? Call or text 505-250-3804.

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.