# Is "Pelléas et Mélisande" by Maurice Maeterlinck a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Pelléas et Mélisande by Maurice Maeterlinck (Paul Lacomblez, 1892) is identified by: The true first is the 1892 Brussels edition: "Pelléas et Mélisande, drame en cinq actes" (in prose), Bruxelles, Paul Lacomblez, éditeur, 1892 — one volume of 158 pages. The true first edition is the original-language French: Bruxelles, Paul Lacomblez, 1892 (the text behind Debussy's 1902 opera).

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- The true first is the 1892 Brussels edition: "Pelléas et Mélisande, drame en cinq actes" (in prose), Bruxelles, Paul Lacomblez, éditeur, 1892 — one volume of 158 pages
- Confirm the true first by the Lacomblez imprint and 1892 date on the title page and the dedication to Octave Mirbeau ("En témoignage d'amitié, d'admiration et de reconnaissance profondes"), which Christie's records verbatim
- The limitation is the key deluxe point: a small large-paper run of 25 copies on Hollande (Dutch handmade) and 5 on Japon (Japan) preceded the ordinary-paper trade issue; large-paper copies should state their paper/number
- Note a bibliographic caution on format: Christie's catalogues the original as in-8 (180 x 115 mm), while several French antiquarian listings describe it as in-12 — sources disagree, so collation alone is not a decisive point of issue
- Being fragile and slight, most surviving copies are later collector rebindings in half or full morocco (binders such as Noulhac and Alfred Farez are recorded) with the original wrappers and spine bound in; a well-preserved copy retains those wrappers
- Publisher imprint reads Paul Lacomblez
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Maurice Maeterlinck |
| Publisher | Paul Lacomblez |
| Year | 1892 |
| True first | British edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | The true first is the 1892 Brussels edition: "Pelléas et Mélisande, drame en cinq actes" (in prose), Bruxelles, Paul Lacomblez, éditeur… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
The true first is the 1892 Brussels edition: "Pelléas et Mélisande, drame en cinq actes" (in prose), Bruxelles, Paul Lacomblez, éditeur, 1892 — one volume of 158 pages. Confirm the true first by the Lacomblez imprint and 1892 date on the title page and the dedication to Octave Mirbeau ("En témoignage d'amitié, d'admiration et de reconnaissance profondes"), which Christie's records verbatim. The limitation is the key deluxe point: a small large-paper run of 25 copies on Hollande (Dutch handmade) and 5 on Japon (Japan) preceded the ordinary-paper trade issue; large-paper copies should state their paper/number. Note a bibliographic caution on format: Christie's catalogues the original as in-8 (180 x 115 mm), while several French antiquarian listings describe it as in-12 — sources disagree, so collation alone is not a decisive point of issue. Being fragile and slight, most surviving copies are later collector rebindings in half or full morocco (binders such as Noulhac and Alfred Farez are recorded) with the original wrappers and spine bound in; a well-preserved copy retains those wrappers.

## Is this the true first?
The true first edition is the original-language French: Bruxelles, Paul Lacomblez, 1892 (the text behind Debussy's 1902 opera). The first English-language appearance is Erving Winslow's translation, "Pelléas and Mélisande: A Drama in Five Acts," Thomas Y. Crowell & Co. (New York, also Boston), 1894 — the earliest located English edition; a Richard Hovey translation followed (1896). It is often confused with Laurence Alma-Tadema's London translation, "Pelleas and Melisanda, and The Sightless: Two Plays" (The Scott Library), Walter Scott, London, 1895 — note her spelling "Melisanda." English-speaking collectors should treat the 1894 Crowell/Winslow as the first English and the 1895 Walter Scott/Alma-Tadema as the first British.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No mass-market book-club edition of this specific title is the usual trap; the dangers here are different. Traps: (1) later French printings — Lacomblez reissued the title and later French houses (e.g., Fasquelle) printed it, so a plain later or undated French printing is often mistaken for the 1892 first; confirm the 1892 Lacomblez Brussels imprint. (2) Opera-libretto and vocal-score confusion — post-1902 items pairing Maeterlinck's text with Debussy's music (Fromont, Durand, etc.) are music publications, not the first edition of the play. (3) The English 1894 Crowell and the 1895 Walter Scott "Scott Library" translation both ran into many later dated impressions (1910s copies exist, e.g., 1913-1914) that look similar but are not the first English/British.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Pelléas et Mélisande* by Maurice Maeterlinck a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/pell-as-et-m-lisande
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.