Is My Hard Times. For These Times a First Edition?

The points of issue

• First edition in book form, one volume, published 7 August 1854
• Hard Times and Great Expectations are the only Dickens novels issued without illustrations
• The publisher's primary binding (first of four recorded binding states) is horizontally-ribbed olive-green moire cloth, covers with blind-stamped double-rule and internal ornamental rectangular frame, spine lettered in gilt with blind decoration and reading 'Price 5/-' at the foot, yellow endpapers
• First issue has page 244 misnumbered '44'
• Copies routinely show mixed textual states: Sotheby's records a copy with text on pp
• 12, 16, 86, 108, 122, 147 and 244 corrected while pp

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 American 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 correct as to publisher and year but should be stated precisely: the true first APPEARANCE is the serialization in Household Words (1 April - 12 August 1854), and uniquely among the mature novels there was no separate monthly-parts issue, so the 1854 Bradbury & Evans one-volume book IS the first edition in book form - the phrase every major catalog uses. There is a genuine Anglo-American precedence wrinkle the census omits: the London book form (7 August 1854) precedes both American editions - T. L. McElrath, New York (8 August 1854), who paid for advance sheets, and Harper & Brothers, New York (9 August 1854), who typeset from McElrath to undercut him a day later. McElrath is the first American edition; the Harper cloth issue is a later Harper printing and is only 'first American edition bound in cloth' (a first-thus trap). London holds precedence outright.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club issue at this date. The trap here is the later binding states and the 'first thus' American issues: the Harper cloth-bound copies are described by dealers as the second Harper edition, preceded by the McElrath and Harper wrappers editions, and are not the true first. Copies outside the horizontally-ribbed olive-green moire primary binding with 'Price 5/-' gilt at spine foot are later binding states. Household Words serial parts extracted and bound up are not the book edition.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Hard Times. For These Times a first edition?

A first edition of Hard Times. For These Times by Charles Dickens (Bradbury and Evans, London) is identified by: First edition in book form, one volume, published 7 August 1854; Hard Times and Great Expectations are the only Dickens novels issued without illustrations.

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 correct as to publisher and year but should be stated precisely: the true first APPEARANCE is the serialization in Household Words (1 April - 12 August 1854), and uniquely among the mature novels there was no separate monthly-parts issue, so the 1854 Bradbury & Evans one-volume book IS the first edition in book form - the phrase every major catalog uses.

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

No book-club issue at this date. The trap here is the later binding states and the 'first thus' American issues: the Harper cloth-bound copies are described by dealers as the second Harper edition, preceded by the McElrath and Harper wrappers editions, and are not the true first. Copies outside the horizontally-ribbed olive-green moire primary binding with 'Price 5/-' gilt at spine foot are later binding states. Household Words serial parts extracted and bound up are not the book edition.

I have a first edition of Hard Times. For These Times — 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.