# Is "New Grub Street" by George Gissing a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of New Grub Street by George Gissing (Smith, Elder & Co., 1891) is identified by: London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1891 — first edition, the three-decker, in a small printing reported at 500 copies (one ABAA description gives 500–750). The Smith, Elder London three-decker of 1891 is the true first, confirming the census claim, and precedence is not contested: no American edition of 1891 is recorded in any source consulted.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1891 — first edition, the three-decker, in a small printing reported at 500 copies (one ABAA description gives 500–750)
- Three volumes, octavo, collating [vi], 305, [1], [2, ads]; [vi], 316; [vi], 335, [1] pp., with half-titles present in all three volumes and publisher's advertisements at the rear of volume one
- Bound in the original blue-green crackle-grain cloth stamped in black; a second ABAA description of the same edition calls the cloth green and records gilt as well as black stamping, so allow for that variance in wording
- The three-decker was issued without dust jackets, so no jacket point exists for this book
- Standard references are Coustillas A9a
- Collie IXa
- Publisher imprint reads Smith, Elder & Co.

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | George Gissing |
| Publisher | Smith, Elder & Co. |
| Year | 1891 |
| True first | American edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1891 — first edition, the three-decker, in a small printing reported at 500 copies (one ABAA description gives… |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
London: Smith, Elder & Co., 1891 — first edition, the three-decker, in a small printing reported at 500 copies (one ABAA description gives 500–750). Three volumes, octavo, collating [vi], 305, [1], [2, ads]; [vi], 316; [vi], 335, [1] pp., with half-titles present in all three volumes and publisher's advertisements at the rear of volume one. Bound in the original blue-green crackle-grain cloth stamped in black; a second ABAA description of the same edition calls the cloth green and records gilt as well as black stamping, so allow for that variance in wording. The three-decker was issued without dust jackets, so no jacket point exists for this book. Standard references are Coustillas A9a; Collie IXa; Sadleir 971; Wolff 2552 — a set that cannot be reconciled to that collation, especially one lacking half-titles, is suspect.

## Is this the true first?
The Smith, Elder London three-decker of 1891 is the true first, confirming the census claim, and precedence is not contested: no American edition of 1891 is recorded in any source consulted. The census note that 'early US editions are later and abridged' needs qualifying on both counts. The American edition came much later — one source reports the first American issue appearing only after Gissing's death in December 1903, a date that could not be corroborated against a second independent source. And the abridgement is Gissing's own: he revised and shortened the novel for a French edition of 1901, dropping passages of autobiographical reminiscence, and could not find an English publisher willing to issue the revised version. Later one-volume reprints, including Eveleigh Nash & Grayson (London, 1927), carry a shortened text and are 'first thus' at best.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Three-deckers of 1891 went overwhelmingly to the circulating libraries, so surviving copies are frequently ex-Mudie's or otherwise ex-library and rebound; original cloth in three volumes with half-titles intact is the thing actually being identified, and New Grub Street was the first of Gissing's books to reach a second impression, so a stated later impression is a real possibility. One-volume reprints and modern critical editions (Penguin, Oxford World's Classics, Broadview) separate by imprint. No book-club tells were documented in the sources consulted.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *New Grub Street* by George Gissing a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/new-grub-street
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.