Is My Scenes of Clerical Life a First Edition?

The points of issue

• First edition in book form, published 5 January 1858 in two octavo volumes by William Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh and London, in an edition of 1,050 copies
• The title page carries the Blackwood imprint, the 1858 date, and the byline "George Eliot" — the pseudonym's first appearance on a book
• Collation is [4], 366 pp
• I) and [2], 381, [1 blank] pp
• II); half-titles are called for in both volumes, with a fly-title in vol
• II, though copies rebound in the period are frequently found lacking them

How William Blackwood and Sons marked a first edition

• No explicit edition statement on Victorian firsts: identify by title-page date, absence of 'New Edition' wording, correct imprint ('William Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh and London'), and complete volumes with half-title…
• Many Blackwood novels first appeared serially in Blackwood's Magazine before book form — confirm the first BOOK edition versus the serial and versus cheaper later reissues.

Full William Blackwood and Sons first-edition guide →

How to verify your copy, step by step

1. Find the copyright page — the verso (back) of the title page.
2. Confirm the first-edition statement — look for “First Edition,” “First Printing,” or the publisher’s equivalent wording.
3. Read the number line — the lowest number is the printing. A line including 1 is a first printing (Random House deliberately ends at 2). Paste it into the decoder.
4. Verify this is the UK true first — not a later-market or reprint edition.
5. 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.
6. 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 Blackwood two-volume issue of 5 January 1858 (Edinburgh and London) is the true first edition in book form and the edition collected; the census claim is confirmed. Only the UK edition is a genuine first. Note that the Blackwood book is the first collected appearance rather than the first publication of the text: the three stories — "The Sad Fortunes of the Reverend Amos Barton", "Mr Gilfil's Love-Story" and "Janet's Repentance" — had already run anonymously in Blackwood's Edinburgh Magazine through 1857. A Harper & Brothers (New York) American edition followed in the same year, 1858, confirmed by the HathiTrust catalogue record (011602499) and by the Harvard copy digitised at the Internet Archive; it is a New York reprint of the London text and does not compete for precedence.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club edition is possible for an 1858 Blackwood novel; the traps here are "first thus" reprints and rebinds. Blackwood reissued the work repeatedly, and the 1878 Cabinet Edition is among the settings most often mistaken for the first — any copy dated later than 1858, any single-volume Blackwood copy, or any copy with a new-edition statement on the title page is not the first. Harper (New York) and Tauchnitz (Leipzig) issues are reprints. Because Sadleir noted the book "in any state is now rare" and ranked it the scarcest of Eliot's novels in the original cloth, copies in fresh original cloth are far outnumbered by period rebinds in morocco and half-calf; a handsome 19th-century binding is not evidence of a first, and the collation plus the 1858 Blackwood title page must be checked independently of the covers.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Scenes of Clerical Life a first edition?

A first edition of Scenes of Clerical Life by George Eliot (William Blackwood and Sons) is identified by: First edition in book form, published 5 January 1858 in two octavo volumes by William Blackwood and Sons, Edinburgh and London, in an edition of 1,050 copies.

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

Check the copyright page. A number line whose lowest number is 1 marks a first printing (Random House ends at 2). The Blackwood two-volume issue of 5 January 1858 (Edinburgh and London) is the true first edition in book form and the edition collected; the census claim is confirmed.

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

No book-club edition is possible for an 1858 Blackwood novel; the traps here are "first thus" reprints and rebinds. Blackwood reissued the work repeatedly, and the 1878 Cabinet Edition is among the settings most often mistaken for the first — any copy dated later than 1858, any single-volume Blackwood copy, or any copy with a new-edition statement on the title page is not the first. Harper (New York) and Tauchnitz (Leipzig) issues are reprints. Because Sadleir noted the book "in any state is now

I have a first edition of Scenes of Clerical Life — 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.