Is My 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?

Census confirmed. 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.

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.

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. Census confirmed.

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. Any copy naming De Quincey on the title page is by definition not

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 — 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.