Is My Memoirs of Samuel Pepys (the Diary, first publication) a First Edition?

The points of issue

• The first edition is "Memoirs of Samuel Pepys, Esq
• F.R.S. Secretary to the Admiralty in the Reigns of Charles II and James II. Comprising his Diary from 1659 to 1669, Deciphered by the Rev
• John Smith from the original short-hand MS. in the Pepysian Library, and a Selection from his Private Correspondence," edited by Richard, Lord Braybrooke, London: Henry Colburn, New Burlington Street, 1825, printed by S. and R. Bentley of Dorset Street
• Two volumes, quarto
• Collation: volume 1, xlii preliminary pages + 498 pages + xlix index; volume 2, 311 pages
• Thirteen engraved plates in all — eight in volume 1, including the Pepys and Impington family pedigrees, and five in volume 2, including portraits and the view of Pepys's library in York Buildings — one of the thirteen folding

How to confirm the first-printing statement

Publishers stated first printings differently by era. The decisive tells are a printed “First Edition/First Printing” statement, a number line whose lowest number is 1 (Random House ends at 2), or a dated first printing with no later printings listed. Paste your copyright page into the number-line decoder.

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. Read the number line — the lowest number is the printing. A line including 1 is a first printing (Random House deliberately ends at 2). Paste it into the decoder.
4. Verify this is the UK 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?

No language or UK/US precedence question arises: Pepys wrote in English shorthand and the 1825 Colburn quarto is the first publication anywhere. The census claim is confirmed, with the abridgement point worth stating precisely. John Smith deciphered the shorthand between 1819 and 1822; Braybrooke's 1825 text prints only about half of Smith's transcript, and what it does print is abridged and expurgated. The first complete and unexpurgated text is Robert Latham and William Matthews, eds., "The Diary of Samuel Pepys: A New and Complete Transcription," London: Bell (later Bell & Hyman) / Berkeley: University of California Press, 1970-83, in eleven volumes — nine of text, plus the Companion and the Index. The 1825 accordingly remains the antiquarian collectible and the 1970-83 Latham & Matthews is the textual first, and serious Pepys collections hold both for different reasons.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club edition for 1825. Reprint tells are edition-statement and format based: Colburn's own 1828 second edition is stated and is five volumes octavo, and later nineteenth-century editions under other editors are separate texts rather than printings of Braybrooke's 1825 — they are "first thus" at best and must not be described as the first publication of the diary. The Latham & Matthews set is collected in its own right as the first complete transcription; first impressions of all eleven volumes across the 1970-83 span are what a complete set requires.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Memoirs of Samuel Pepys (the Diary, first publication) a first edition?

A first edition of Memoirs of Samuel Pepys (the Diary, first publication) by Samuel Pepys (ed. Lord Braybrooke) (Henry Colburn, London) is identified by: The first edition is "Memoirs of Samuel Pepys, Esq.

How do I tell the first printing from a later one?

Check the copyright page. A number line whose lowest number is 1 marks a first printing (Random House ends at 2). No language or UK/US precedence question arises: Pepys wrote in English shorthand and the 1825 Colburn quarto is the first publication anywhere.

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

No book-club edition for 1825. Reprint tells are edition-statement and format based: Colburn's own 1828 second edition is stated and is five volumes octavo, and later nineteenth-century editions under other editors are separate texts rather than printings of Braybrooke's 1825 — they are "first thus" at best and must not be described as the first publication of the diary. The Latham & Matthews set is collected in its own right as the first complete transcription; first impressions of all eleven v

I have a first edition of Memoirs of Samuel Pepys (the Diary, first publication) — 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.