Is My Copy of 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. II in the two-volume book edition)
• Our Mutual Friend carries more advertising than any other Dickens novel in parts - roughly 320 pages plus inserted slips - and completeness is judged against Hatton & Cleaver
• The first book edition (2 vols, 1865) is bound in dark reddish-brown sand-grain cloth, spines richly gilt, covers blind-stamped with a rule border and a decorative rounded arch-frame; it carries the three-page postscript at the rear of vol. II, and an errata slip is occasionally found tipped in before p. 1 of vol. I. Referenced as Gimbel A149, Hatton & Cleaver pp. 343-370, Eckel pp. 94-95
• Dealers describe the wrapper color as green; a minority say blue

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…

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 parts precede the book; '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 true-first date is 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.P-041501

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 parts precede the book; '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. Confirm the points of issue above against your copy, and decode the printing with the free First Edition Checker. Clearing out books? I take them as a free donation and make sure collectible copies are identified, not discarded: free pickup in the Albuquerque metro (scheduled by route), the 24/7 drop box at 5445 Edith Blvd NE, or donor-paid mail-in from anywhere in the US. Questions? Call or text 505-250-3804.

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.