# Is "Eothen; or, Traces of Travel Brought Home from the East" by Alexander William Kinglake a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Eothen; or, Traces of Travel Brought Home from the East by Alexander William Kinglake (John Ollivier, 1844) is identified by: The true first edition was published anonymously -- Kinglake's name appears nowhere on the title page or elsewhere in the volume -- by the small London firm of John Ollivier in 1844, collating xii, [1], 418 pages. Ollivier issued further anonymous editions under his own imprint after the first -- a third edition, still anonymous, is recorded dated 1845 -- before Murray eventually acquired the copyright, so neither Ollivier's imprint nor the absence of Kinglake's name on the title page is sufficient to identify the true first; only the 1844 title-page date together with the xii, [1], 418-page collation and its two hand-colored plates confirms the first edition.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- The true first edition was published anonymously -- Kinglake's name appears nowhere on the title page or elsewhere in the volume -- by the small London firm of John Ollivier in 1844, collating xii, [1], 418 pages
- It carries a folding hand-colored frontispiece, laid down on linen and depicting travelers passing the skeletons of impaled robbers in the Balkans, plus a second hand-colored plate facing page 209 showing a baggage raft crossing the River Jordan
- Major houses including John Murray had already declined the manuscript, and Ollivier, a personal friend of Kinglake's, published it only after Kinglake agreed to cover the financial risk; the book proved so popular that it reached a third edition, still anonymous and still from Ollivier, within about a year
- Publisher imprint reads John Ollivier
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Alexander William Kinglake |
| Publisher | John Ollivier |
| Year | 1844 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | The true first edition was published anonymously -- Kinglake's name appears nowhere on the title page or elsewhere in the volume -- by the… |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
The true first edition was published anonymously -- Kinglake's name appears nowhere on the title page or elsewhere in the volume -- by the small London firm of John Ollivier in 1844, collating xii, [1], 418 pages. It carries a folding hand-colored frontispiece, laid down on linen and depicting travelers passing the skeletons of impaled robbers in the Balkans, plus a second hand-colored plate facing page 209 showing a baggage raft crossing the River Jordan. Major houses including John Murray had already declined the manuscript, and Ollivier, a personal friend of Kinglake's, published it only after Kinglake agreed to cover the financial risk; the book proved so popular that it reached a third edition, still anonymous and still from Ollivier, within about a year.

## Is this the true first?
Ollivier issued further anonymous editions under his own imprint after the first -- a third edition, still anonymous, is recorded dated 1845 -- before Murray eventually acquired the copyright, so neither Ollivier's imprint nor the absence of Kinglake's name on the title page is sufficient to identify the true first; only the 1844 title-page date together with the xii, [1], 418-page collation and its two hand-colored plates confirms the first edition.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Once the copyright passed to John Murray, later editions credited Kinglake by name on the title page; any copy naming the author, rather than remaining anonymous, postdates Ollivier's original run of anonymous editions from 1844-45.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Eothen; or, Traces of Travel Brought Home from the East* by Alexander William Kinglake a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/eothen-or-traces-of-travel-brought-home-from-the-east
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.