# Is "Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa" by David Livingstone a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa by David Livingstone (John Murray, 1857) is identified by: The true first edition collates x + 688 pages (711 in the rare copies that include the separately issued index), plus an 8-page catalogue of Murray's publications dated 1 November 1857, and was bound by Edmonds & Remnants of London in embossed brown cloth with gilt spine lettering, the binder's ticket usually found on the rear pastedown.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- The true first edition collates x + 688 pages (711 in the rare copies that include the separately issued index), plus an 8-page catalogue of Murray's publications dated 1 November 1857, and was bound by Edmonds & Remnants of London in embossed brown cloth with gilt spine lettering, the binder's ticket usually found on the rear pastedown
- Early copies carry lithographic versions of three illustrations, namely the frontispiece and the plates facing pages 66 and 225, printed first by William West and, in later copies, redrawn by Thomas Picken for Day & Son, each captioned 'Published by John Murray, Albemarle St, May 1857'; as stocks of these lithographs were exhausted they were replaced by plain woodcuts after J. W. Whymper, and bibliographers (Abbey, Renard, Bradlow) have long disputed the exact priority of the resulting states, so no single binding-and-illustration combination should be treated as a certain first issue
- A later printing, datable to early 1858, replaces the original leaf comprising pages 7-8 with an expanded bifolium signed 8* and 8+ carrying revised text on Livingstone's marriage and children
- The volume also includes two folding maps engraved by John Arrowsmith and dated 1857, the larger 'Map of South Africa' housed in a pocket inside the rear board
- Publisher imprint reads John Murray
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | David Livingstone |
| Publisher | John Murray |
| Year | 1857 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | The true first edition collates x + 688 pages (711 in the rare copies that include the separately issued index), plus an 8-page catalogue… |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
The true first edition collates x + 688 pages (711 in the rare copies that include the separately issued index), plus an 8-page catalogue of Murray's publications dated 1 November 1857, and was bound by Edmonds & Remnants of London in embossed brown cloth with gilt spine lettering, the binder's ticket usually found on the rear pastedown. Early copies carry lithographic versions of three illustrations, namely the frontispiece and the plates facing pages 66 and 225, printed first by William West and, in later copies, redrawn by Thomas Picken for Day & Son, each captioned 'Published by John Murray, Albemarle St, May 1857'; as stocks of these lithographs were exhausted they were replaced by plain woodcuts after J. W. Whymper, and bibliographers (Abbey, Renard, Bradlow) have long disputed the exact priority of the resulting states, so no single binding-and-illustration combination should be treated as a certain first issue. A later printing, datable to early 1858, replaces the original leaf comprising pages 7-8 with an expanded bifolium signed 8* and 8+ carrying revised text on Livingstone's marriage and children. The volume also includes two folding maps engraved by John Arrowsmith and dated 1857, the larger 'Map of South Africa' housed in a pocket inside the rear board.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Murray issued a cheaper single-volume abridgment, A Popular Account of Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa, in 1861, condensed by Murray's editor Whitwell Elwin; it is a shorter, different text and does not carry the first edition's plate, map, and advertisement complement.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Missionary Travels and Researches in South Africa* by David Livingstone a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/missionary-travels-and-researches-in-south-africa
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.