# Is "Culture and Anarchy: An Essay in Political and Social Criticism" by Matthew Arnold a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Culture and Anarchy: An Essay in Political and Social Criticism by Matthew Arnold (Smith, Elder and Co., 1869) is identified by: First edition, London: Smith, Elder and Co., 1869, collating [3], iv-lx, 1-272pp, 8vo, bound in brick-colored publisher's cloth with black-ruled borders and two gilt-ruled borders on the front board, gilt lettering on the front board and spine, and brown-coated endpapers. The material first appeared as a series of essays in Cornhill Magazine in 1867-68; bibliographers and collectors treat the 1869 Smith, Elder and Co.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First edition, London: Smith, Elder and Co., 1869, collating [3], iv-lx, 1-272pp, 8vo, bound in brick-colored publisher's cloth with black-ruled borders and two gilt-ruled borders on the front board, gilt lettering on the front board and spine, and brown-coated endpapers
- In this first edition the six chapters are headed only by roman numerals, with no chapter titles
- Arnold did not add the now-famous chapter titles ("Sweetness and Light," "Doing as One Likes," "Barbarians, Philistines, Populace," "Hebraism and Hellenism," "Porro Unum Est Necessarium," and "Our Liberal Practitioners") until he revised the text for the second edition of 1875
- The material had first run as a series of essays in Cornhill Magazine in 1867-68; the 1869 preface is new to the book
- Publisher imprint reads Smith, Elder and Co.
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Matthew Arnold |
| Publisher | Smith, Elder and Co. |
| Year | 1869 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First edition, London: Smith, Elder and Co., 1869, collating [3], iv-lx, 1-272pp, 8vo, bound in brick-colored publisher's cloth with… |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
First edition, London: Smith, Elder and Co., 1869, collating [3], iv-lx, 1-272pp, 8vo, bound in brick-colored publisher's cloth with black-ruled borders and two gilt-ruled borders on the front board, gilt lettering on the front board and spine, and brown-coated endpapers. In this first edition the six chapters are headed only by roman numerals, with no chapter titles; Arnold did not add the now-famous chapter titles ("Sweetness and Light," "Doing as One Likes," "Barbarians, Philistines, Populace," "Hebraism and Hellenism," "Porro Unum Est Necessarium," and "Our Liberal Practitioners") until he revised the text for the second edition of 1875. The material had first run as a series of essays in Cornhill Magazine in 1867-68; the 1869 preface is new to the book.

## Is this the true first?
The material first appeared as a series of essays in Cornhill Magazine in 1867-68; bibliographers and collectors treat the 1869 Smith, Elder and Co. volume, which added a new preface not in the magazine version, as the first edition in book form.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Any copy with named chapter headings, such as a chapter titled "Sweetness and Light," is the 1875 second edition or later, since Arnold's original 1869 chapters were numbered only, without titles.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Culture and Anarchy: An Essay in Political and Social Criticism* by Matthew Arnold a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/culture-and-anarchy-an-essay-in-political-and-social-critici
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.