Is My Our Mutual Friend a First Edition?

The points of issue

• True first is the serial issue in original green pictorial printed wrappers, 20 numbers bound as 19 monthly parts (the last a double number), May 1864 - November 1865
• Complete sets have a wood-engraved frontispiece and 39 plates after Marcus Stone, engraved by Dalziel and W. T. Green
• Two first-issue points are documented: the front wrapper of Part 1 WITHOUT the printer's imprint at the foot, and the misprint 'pricipal' for 'principal' at p
• 115 (falling in No
• XIV of the parts; p
• 115 of vol

How Chapman and Hall, London marked a first edition

• No edition statement on early firsts: identify by title-page date, absence of later-printing wording, and (for serialized novels) by the original part-issue versus the bound volume.
• For Dickens part-issues (Pickwick, Nicholas Nickleby, Martin Chuzzlewit, Our Mutual Friend, Edwin Drood), correct plates/etchings, advertisement slips, and wrapper states are the diagnostic points; Pickwick is the classi…

Full Chapman and Hall, London first-edition guide →

How to verify your copy, step by step

1. Find the copyright page — the verso (back) of the title page.
2. Check for a number line or dated printing — the lowest number present is the printing; a dated first printing with no later printings listed is the tell.
3. Verify this is the American true first — not a later-market or reprint edition.
4. 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.
5. 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?

The census is right that the parts precede the book and right on publisher, but 'twenty monthly parts' is imprecise: 20 numbers were issued in 19 monthly parts, the last a double number. The true first is the parts issue, May 1864 - November 1865 - not the 1865 volumes; the census's true-first year should read 1864-1865. Both are collected: (1) the 19/20 parts in original green pictorial wrappers, and (2) the first edition in book form, Chapman and Hall, 1865, in two volumes (title pages state 'In Two Volumes', 'Vol. I' / 'Vol. II'), a deviation from Dickens's former practice. This was the last novel Dickens completed. No American edition holds precedence over the London parts.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club issue at this date. Traps: made-up and rebacked parts sets; sets missing the Advertiser and the inserted slips called for by Hatton & Cleaver (the 'Economic Life Assurance Society' slip in parts 14 and 19/20 is notably rare); and Part 1 wrappers WITH the printer's imprint at foot, which are the later state. Copies reading 'principal' correctly at p. 115 are the corrected state. Two-volume sets rebound from parts sheets are common and are not the wrappered first.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Our Mutual Friend a first edition?

A first edition of Our Mutual Friend by Charles Dickens (Chapman and Hall, London) is identified by: True first is the serial issue in original green pictorial printed wrappers, 20 numbers bound as 19 monthly parts (the last a double number), May 1864 - November 1865.

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

Check the copyright page. A stated first edition, a number line ending in 1, or a dated first printing with no later printings listed is the key. The census is right that the parts precede the book and right on publisher, but 'twenty monthly parts' is imprecise: 20 numbers were issued in 19 monthly parts, the last a double number.

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

No book-club issue at this date. Traps: made-up and rebacked parts sets; sets missing the Advertiser and the inserted slips called for by Hatton & Cleaver (the 'Economic Life Assurance Society' slip in parts 14 and 19/20 is notably rare); and Part 1 wrappers WITH the printer's imprint at foot, which are the later state. Copies reading 'principal' correctly at p. 115 are the corrected state. Two-volume sets rebound from parts sheets are common and are not the wrappered first.

I have a first edition of Our Mutual Friend — 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.