# Is "Coningsby; or, The New Generation" by Benjamin Disraeli a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Coningsby; or, The New Generation by Benjamin Disraeli (Henry Colburn, 1844) is identified by: First edition, three volumes octavo, pp.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First edition, three volumes octavo, pp. iv,319; [ii],314; [ii],350, published by Henry Colburn in 1844
- Original publisher's binding is grayish-brown boards with a ribbed cloth spine and a printed paper spine label
- Advertisements appear in volume III at pages [351]-354, and a separately published pamphlet, 'Key to the Characters in Coningsby' (London: Sherwood, Gilbert, and Piper, 1844), was inserted between pages 350 and [351] of volume III in many first-edition sets; its presence or absence is a recorded collecting point
- Coningsby was the first of Disraeli's 'Young England' political trilogy, followed by Sybil
- and Tancred
- Publisher imprint reads Henry Colburn
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Benjamin Disraeli |
| Publisher | Henry Colburn |
| Year | 1844 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First edition, three volumes octavo, pp. iv,319; [ii],314; [ii],350, published by Henry Colburn in 1844 |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
First edition, three volumes octavo, pp. iv,319; [ii],314; [ii],350, published by Henry Colburn in 1844. Original publisher's binding is grayish-brown boards with a ribbed cloth spine and a printed paper spine label. Advertisements appear in volume III at pages [351]-354, and a separately published pamphlet, 'Key to the Characters in Coningsby' (London: Sherwood, Gilbert, and Piper, 1844), was inserted between pages 350 and [351] of volume III in many first-edition sets; its presence or absence is a recorded collecting point. Coningsby was the first of Disraeli's 'Young England' political trilogy, followed by Sybil (1845) and Tancred (1847).

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Later single-volume reprints, such as David Bryce's 1853 'New Edition' (346 pp.) and Longmans' undated Modern Novelist's Library reprint of the 1880s, collapse the text into one volume with continuous pagination and illustrated boards, readily distinguished from the three-volume first edition.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Coningsby; or, The New Generation* by Benjamin Disraeli a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/coningsby-or-the-new-generation
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.