# Is "Dealings with the Firm of Dombey and Son" by Charles Dickens a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Dealings with the Firm of Dombey and Son by Charles Dickens (Bradbury and Evans, London, 1846) 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. The census claim is confirmed but needs its framing tightened.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- 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
- Publisher imprint reads Bradbury and Evans, London

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Charles Dickens |
| Publisher | Bradbury and Evans, London |
| Year | 1846 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | THE TRUE FIRST IS THE PART-ISSUE: twenty numbers in nineteen monthly parts (the last a double number), Bradbury and Evans, London, October… |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## 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. First-issue text points: the vignette title (and the plate at p. 238) show Captain Cuttle's hook on his left arm; 'delight' for 'joy' in three lines on p. 284; 'aint' without an apostrophe on p. 14; 'fidgetty' for 'fidgety' on p. 26; 'Capatin' for 'Captain' as the final word on p. 324; 'if' omitted on p. 426. References: Gimbel A103; Smith II:8.

## 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.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Dealings with the Firm of Dombey and Son* by Charles Dickens a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/dealings-with-the-firm-of-dombey-and-son
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.