Is My Little Dorrit a First Edition?

The points of issue

• True first is the serial issue in publisher's blue printed pictorial wrappers, 20 numbers bound as 19 monthly parts (the last a double number), December 1855 - June 1857; each part the printed price, the final double part the printed price Complete sets have an etched frontispiece, additional pictorial title and 38 plates by Hablot K. Browne ('Phiz'), including 8 'dark plates' - 40 etchings in all
• The cardinal first-issue point is textual: in No
• XV the character Blandois is misnamed 'Rigaud' on pp
• 469, 470, 472 and 473 (Borg Antiquarian and Buddenbrooks both give this four-page set
• Bonhams cites 469, 470 and 473, so sources differ on whether 472 is counted - the point itself is not in doubt)
• An explanatory correction slip was inserted in No

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. 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.
3. Verify this is the UK true first — not a later-market or reprint edition.
4. 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.
5. 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 is right that the parts precede the book but mis-states the true-first year as 1857: the true first edition is the parts issue of December 1855 - June 1857, not the 1857 volume. Correct the count too - 'twenty monthly parts' is imprecise; it is 20 numbers issued in 19 monthly parts, the last being a double number (19/20). Both states are collected: (1) the 19/20 parts in original blue wrappers, and (2) the first one-volume edition, Bradbury and Evans, 1857, made up largely from the parts sheets and carrying the same textual points ('Rigaud' at pp. 469/470/472/473, 'William' for 'Frederick' at p. 317). No competing UK or American edition holds precedence over the London parts.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club issue at this date. The standing traps are made-up sets and rebound parts: sets lacking the Advertiser leaves and inserted slips called for by Hatton & Cleaver, parts with restored or facsimile wrappers, and volumes bound up from parts sheets after the fact. Copies with 'Blandois' reading correctly at pp. 469-473 are the later, corrected state, not the first issue. Later Chapman & Hall reissues and collected-edition printings are not the first.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Little Dorrit a first edition?

A first edition of Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens (Bradbury and Evans, London) is identified by: True first is the serial issue in publisher's blue printed pictorial wrappers, 20 numbers bound as 19 monthly parts (the last a double number), December 1855 - June 1857; each part the printed price, the final double part the printed price Complete sets have an etched frontispiece, additional pictorial title and 38 plates by Hablot K.

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 is right that the parts precede the book but mis-states the true-first year as 1857: the true first edition is the parts issue of December 1855 - June 1857, not the 1857 volume.

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

No book-club issue at this date. The standing traps are made-up sets and rebound parts: sets lacking the Advertiser leaves and inserted slips called for by Hatton & Cleaver, parts with restored or facsimile wrappers, and volumes bound up from parts sheets after the fact. Copies with 'Blandois' reading correctly at pp. 469-473 are the later, corrected state, not the first issue. Later Chapman & Hall reissues and collected-edition printings are not the first.

I have a first edition of Little Dorrit — 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.