Is My Dealings with the Firm of Dombey and Son a First Edition?

The points of issue

• THE TRUE FIRST IS THE PART-ISSUE: twenty numbers in nineteen monthly parts (the last a double number), Bradbury and Evans, London, October 1846 - April 1848, in the publisher's blue paper wrappers
• Hatton and Cleaver (pp
• 227-250) is the reference of record for the wrappers, inserted advertisements and slips each part must carry; a set should be collated against it
• A twelve-line errata slip in Part V is treated as an essential point (Eckel, 1932)
• The final double number, Parts XIX/XX, carries the prelims, including the first-issue vignette title showing Captain Cuttle's hook on his LEFT arm, together with an eight-line errata
• FIRST EDITION IN BOOK FORM (published 12 April 1848): 'Bradbury & Evans' on the title page; etched frontispiece, additional vignette title and 38 plates by H. K. Browne ('Phiz'); a two-line errata leaf following the list of plates; publisher's green cloth blind-stamped with an arabesque-patterned spine

How Bradbury and Evans, London marked a first edition

• Originally printers who became publishers: 19th-century firsts carry no edition statement — use title-page date, absence of any later-printing notice, and correct imprint.
• For Dickens novels issued in monthly parts, the true 'first' is the original part-issue (paper wrappers, with the correct inserted advertisements/'Dickens advertiser' and plates in the right states) — the bound first edi…

Full Bradbury and Evans, London first-edition guide →

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 census claim is confirmed but needs its framing tightened. The precedence question here is not UK-vs-US or original-language; it is parts-vs-book, and both are Bradbury and Evans, London. The twenty monthly numbers (October 1846 - April 1848) precede and are the true first; the 12 April 1848 volume is correctly described as the first edition in book form, not simply 'the first edition'. Both are separately and legitimately collected, and each must be described as what it is. Note that dealers cite the parts' run variously as October 1846 - April 1848 (cover dates) or September 1846 - March 1848 (dates of actual issue, each number appearing at the end of the preceding month); both describe the same run.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

Pre-dates book clubs. The specific tells: copies bound up from the monthly parts lack the half-title, the list of plates and the errata leaf, and are not the book-form first despite carrying the 1848 title page. Made-up sets in parts — assembled from odd numbers with facsimile wrappers, restored spines, or the wrong inserted advertisements — are the standing hazard, which is why collation against Hatton and Cleaver rather than mere presence of nineteen parts is the test. Later Bradbury and Evans / Chapman and Hall reprints, and the Cheap Edition and Charles Dickens Edition, are 'first thus' only.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Dealings with the Firm of Dombey and Son a first edition?

A first edition of Dealings with the Firm of Dombey and Son by Charles Dickens (Bradbury and Evans, London) is identified by: THE TRUE FIRST IS THE PART-ISSUE: twenty numbers in nineteen monthly parts (the last a double number), Bradbury and Evans, London, October 1846 - April 1848, in the publisher's blue paper wrappers.

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 census claim is confirmed but needs its framing tightened.

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

Pre-dates book clubs. The specific tells: copies bound up from the monthly parts lack the half-title, the list of plates and the errata leaf, and are not the book-form first despite carrying the 1848 title page. Made-up sets in parts — assembled from odd numbers with facsimile wrappers, restored spines, or the wrong inserted advertisements — are the standing hazard, which is why collation against Hatton and Cleaver rather than mere presence of nineteen parts is the test. Later Bradbury and Evans

I have a first edition of Dealings with the Firm of Dombey and Son — 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.