# Is "Poems and Ballads" by Algernon Charles Swinburne a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Poems and Ballads by Algernon Charles Swinburne (Edward Moxon & Co., withdrawn; reissued the same year by John Camden Hotten, 1866) is identified by: Moxon printed and issued the book in April 1866 but withdrew it from sale the day after the first hostile reviews appeared, fearing prosecution for obscenity; John Camden Hotten reissued the same sheets later that year under his own imprint, which is the state most often found. The Moxon imprint of April 1866 has technical priority as the first published state, but genuine Moxon-imprint copies are very uncommon; the Hotten reissue of the same year, using the same sheets under a cancel title leaf, is the state most often described in the trade as "first edition."

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Moxon printed and issued the book in April 1866 but withdrew it from sale the day after the first hostile reviews appeared, fearing prosecution for obscenity
- John Camden Hotten reissued the same sheets later that year under his own imprint, which is the state most often found
- A genuine Moxon-imprint copy is identified by the title page reading "Edward Moxon & Co." rather than "John Camden Hotten"; because Swinburne was correcting errata while the book was in print, both corrected and uncorrected states of certain gatherings exist, and leaf N3 is a cancel in effectively all surviving copies of either imprint
- Bound in green cloth, spine lettered in gilt, covers panelled in blind with the publisher's monogram in blind on the front cover
- Publisher imprint reads Edward Moxon & Co., withdrawn; reissued the same year by John Camden Hotten
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Algernon Charles Swinburne |
| Publisher | Edward Moxon & Co., withdrawn; reissued the same year by John Camden Hotten |
| Year | 1866 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Poetry |
| Key point | Moxon printed and issued the book in April 1866 but withdrew it from sale the day after the first hostile reviews appeared, fearing… |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
Moxon printed and issued the book in April 1866 but withdrew it from sale the day after the first hostile reviews appeared, fearing prosecution for obscenity; John Camden Hotten reissued the same sheets later that year under his own imprint, which is the state most often found. A genuine Moxon-imprint copy is identified by the title page reading "Edward Moxon & Co." rather than "John Camden Hotten"; because Swinburne was correcting errata while the book was in print, both corrected and uncorrected states of certain gatherings exist, and leaf N3 is a cancel in effectively all surviving copies of either imprint. Bound in green cloth, spine lettered in gilt, covers panelled in blind with the publisher's monogram in blind on the front cover.

## Is this the true first?
The Moxon imprint of April 1866 has technical priority as the first published state, but genuine Moxon-imprint copies are very uncommon; the Hotten reissue of the same year, using the same sheets under a cancel title leaf, is the state most often described in the trade as "first edition."

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Poems and Ballads, Second Series (1878) and Poems and Ballads, Third Series (1889) are entirely separate, later Swinburne volumes and should never be confused with the 1866 book when identifying a first edition of "Poems and Ballads."

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Poems and Ballads* by Algernon Charles Swinburne a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/poems-and-ballads
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.