# Is "Micah Clarke" by Arthur Conan Doyle a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Micah Clarke by Arthur Conan Doyle (Longmans, Green & Co., 1889) is identified by: Arthur Conan Doyle's third novel, Micah Clarke, was first published by Longmans, Green & Co. The English Longmans first edition holds priority.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Arthur Conan Doyle's third novel, Micah Clarke, was first published by Longmans, Green & Co. on 25 February 1889
- The first-issue binding is dark blue cloth over bevelled boards, with gilt titles on the spine and upper cover and patterned 'swan and ship' endpapers, and a 16-page publisher's catalogue dated January 1889 bound in at the rear
- A separate American issue exists as well, printed from the same English sheets but bound in New York in matching dark blue cloth over bevelled boards, collating to 421 pages plus two pages of advertisements rather than the English edition's 16-page catalogue
- Publisher imprint reads Longmans, Green & Co.
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Arthur Conan Doyle |
| Publisher | Longmans, Green & Co. |
| Year | 1889 |
| True first | American edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Arthur Conan Doyle's third novel, Micah Clarke, was first published by Longmans, Green & Co. on 25 February 1889 |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
Arthur Conan Doyle's third novel, Micah Clarke, was first published by Longmans, Green & Co. on 25 February 1889. The first-issue binding is dark blue cloth over bevelled boards, with gilt titles on the spine and upper cover and patterned 'swan and ship' endpapers, and a 16-page publisher's catalogue dated January 1889 bound in at the rear. A separate American issue exists as well, printed from the same English sheets but bound in New York in matching dark blue cloth over bevelled boards, collating to 421 pages plus two pages of advertisements rather than the English edition's 16-page catalogue.

## Is this the true first?
The English Longmans first edition holds priority. The New York-bound copies were run off from imported English sheets rather than an independent American typesetting, making them a binding variant of the English edition rather than a true separate American first edition; Harper & Brothers' authorized American edition followed later, issued first in wrappers in the Franklin Square Library in 1889 and then in cloth in 1894.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Later 1889 reprints and the Longmans Silver Library edition, first issued in January 1890, are cheaper, later states that lack the January 1889 catalogue and other first-issue binding points.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Micah Clarke* by Arthur Conan Doyle a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/micah-clarke
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.