# Is "Handley Cross; or, Mr. Jorrocks's Hunt" by Robert Smith Surtees a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Handley Cross; or, Mr. Jorrocks's Hunt by Robert Smith Surtees (Henry Colburn, 1843) is identified by: True first edition of the text: an unillustrated three-volume novel published anonymously by Henry Colburn in 1843, attributed on the title page only to 'the Author of Jorrocks's Jaunts and Jollities.' Critically, the 1843 title page itself reads 'Handley Cross; or, The Spa Hunt. The unillustrated 1843 Colburn three-volume edition, titled on its title page 'Handley Cross; or, The Spa Hunt,' has textual and bibliographic priority as the true first; it followed unillustrated serialization in the New Sporting Magazine, which does not constitute prior book publication.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- True first edition of the text: an unillustrated three-volume novel published anonymously by Henry Colburn in 1843, attributed on the title page only to 'the Author of Jorrocks's Jaunts and Jollities.' Critically, the 1843 title page itself reads 'Handley Cross; or, The Spa Hunt
- A Sporting Tale' -- not the now-familiar 'Mr
- Jorrocks's Hunt' subtitle, which was not adopted until Surtees's later revision
- The true first runs to over 900 pages, bound in red cloth-covered boards with gilt top edge
- It must be distinguished from the far more celebrated illustrated edition, a substantially revised and expanded text issued by Bradbury and Evans in seventeen original monthly parts (March 1853-October 1854) under the retitled 'Mr
- Jorrocks's Hunt,' with hand-colored plates by John Leech -- a different, later, and separately collected edition, not a variant issue of the 1843 text
- Publisher imprint reads Henry Colburn

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Robert Smith Surtees |
| Publisher | Henry Colburn |
| Year | 1843 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | True first edition of the text: an unillustrated three-volume novel published anonymously by Henry Colburn in 1843, attributed on the title… |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
True first edition of the text: an unillustrated three-volume novel published anonymously by Henry Colburn in 1843, attributed on the title page only to 'the Author of Jorrocks's Jaunts and Jollities.' Critically, the 1843 title page itself reads 'Handley Cross; or, The Spa Hunt. A Sporting Tale' -- not the now-familiar 'Mr. Jorrocks's Hunt' subtitle, which was not adopted until Surtees's later revision. The true first runs to over 900 pages, bound in red cloth-covered boards with gilt top edge. It must be distinguished from the far more celebrated illustrated edition, a substantially revised and expanded text issued by Bradbury and Evans in seventeen original monthly parts (March 1853-October 1854) under the retitled 'Mr. Jorrocks's Hunt,' with hand-colored plates by John Leech -- a different, later, and separately collected edition, not a variant issue of the 1843 text.

## Is this the true first?
The unillustrated 1843 Colburn three-volume edition, titled on its title page 'Handley Cross; or, The Spa Hunt,' has textual and bibliographic priority as the true first; it followed unillustrated serialization in the New Sporting Magazine, which does not constitute prior book publication. The John Leech-illustrated 1853-54 Bradbury and Evans edition is a distinct, heavily revised and expanded later edition, issued under the different and now more familiar title 'Handley Cross; or, Mr. Jorrocks's Hunt,' and should not be mistaken for a variant of the true first.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Every subsequent printing -- the 1854 Bradbury and Evans first illustrated edition, the 1888 subscription reissue, and later Leech-illustrated reprints -- carries the 'Mr. Jorrocks's Hunt' title, so that title alone cannot identify a first edition. Only a three-volume, unillustrated set titled 'Handley Cross; or, The Spa Hunt' and dated 1843 with the Colburn imprint is the true first.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Handley Cross; or, Mr. Jorrocks's Hunt* by Robert Smith Surtees a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/handley-cross-or-mr-jorrockss-hunt
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.