# Is "Guy Mannering; or, The Astrologer" by Walter Scott a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Guy Mannering; or, The Astrologer by Walter Scott (Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, 1815) is identified by: First edition, three volumes, published anonymously ('by the author of Waverley') on 24 February 1815 in an edition of 2,000 copies; the Edinburgh share sold out within a day of publication and was followed within months by separate second and third printings totaling 5,000 further copies.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First edition, three volumes, published anonymously ('by the author of Waverley') on 24 February 1815 in an edition of 2,000 copies; the Edinburgh share sold out within a day of publication and was followed within months by separate second and third printings totaling 5,000 further copies
- First-edition sets show the original three-volume collation with a half-title present in each volume and top edges left untrimmed as issued, and Worthington's bibliography records a further cancel leaf at pages 173-176 (signed h3 and h4) in volume two of genuine first-edition sets
- No author's name appears anywhere in the volumes, and genuine February 1815 sheets predate the March and May 1815 reprint settings
- Publisher imprint reads Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Walter Scott |
| Publisher | Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown |
| Year | 1815 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First edition, three volumes, published anonymously ('by the author of Waverley') on 24 February 1815 in an edition of 2,000 copies; the… |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
First edition, three volumes, published anonymously ('by the author of Waverley') on 24 February 1815 in an edition of 2,000 copies; the Edinburgh share sold out within a day of publication and was followed within months by separate second and third printings totaling 5,000 further copies. First-edition sets show the original three-volume collation with a half-title present in each volume and top edges left untrimmed as issued, and Worthington's bibliography records a further cancel leaf at pages 173-176 (signed h3 and h4) in volume two of genuine first-edition sets. No author's name appears anywhere in the volumes, and genuine February 1815 sheets predate the March and May 1815 reprint settings.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
The rapid March and May 1815 reprintings, together totaling roughly 5,000 additional copies, are resettings rather than the original type; only sheets from the initial February 1815 print run, identifiable by the volume-two cancel leaf and collation above, constitute the true first edition.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Guy Mannering; or, The Astrologer* by Walter Scott a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/guy-mannering-or-the-astrologer
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.