# Is "No Name" by Wilkie Collins a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of No Name by Wilkie Collins (Sampson Low, Son, and Co., 1862) is identified by: First edition, three volumes, octavo, published in December 1862 by Sampson Low, Son, and Co. The English three-volume edition (Sampson Low, December 1862) precedes rival American editions from Harper (New York), Gardner Fuller (Boston, two volumes), and West and Johnson (Richmond), all of which followed in 1863.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First edition, three volumes, octavo, published in December 1862 by Sampson Low, Son, and Co
- (a large first printing of 4,000 copies, of which all but 400 had sold by the end of the first day), paginated ix,[i],339,[1]; [iv],363,[1]; [ii],408, following serialization in Dickens's All the Year Round
- Half-titles are called for in volumes I and II. Cited as Sadleir, Excursions 141, and Parrish 45-46
- Publisher imprint reads Sampson Low, Son, and Co.
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Wilkie Collins |
| Publisher | Sampson Low, Son, and Co. |
| Year | 1862 |
| True first | American edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First edition, three volumes, octavo, published in December 1862 by Sampson Low, Son, and Co |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
First edition, three volumes, octavo, published in December 1862 by Sampson Low, Son, and Co. (a large first printing of 4,000 copies, of which all but 400 had sold by the end of the first day), paginated ix,[i],339,[1]; [iv],363,[1]; [ii],408, following serialization in Dickens's All the Year Round. Half-titles are called for in volumes I and II. Cited as Sadleir, Excursions 141, and Parrish 45-46.

## Is this the true first?
The English three-volume edition (Sampson Low, December 1862) precedes rival American editions from Harper (New York), Gardner Fuller (Boston, two volumes), and West and Johnson (Richmond), all of which followed in 1863.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
A small number of unsold 1862 sheets were rebound in blue cloth for an 1863 remainder issue, and the 1864 one-volume reprint added a Millais frontispiece not present in the original three-volume first edition; genuine first-edition sets are bound in the original scarlet embossed cloth with pale yellow endpapers.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *No Name* by Wilkie Collins a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/no-name
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.