Is My Sketches by Boz, Illustrative of Every-Day Life, and Every-Day People a First Edition?

The points of issue

• FIRST SERIES: London: John Macrone, 1836; two volumes, 12mo, published February 1836, with the preface dated 'February, 1836'
• The controlling first-printing point is the printer's imprint: the first printing carries the Whiting imprint (the second and third Macrone printings carry the Hazard and Vizetelly imprints respectively)
• Sixteen Cruikshank etchings — an etched frontispiece and seven further plates in each volume; frontispieces are bound facing p
• No half-titles are called for in the First Series
• In the original binding: dark green / olive-green embossed leaf-patterned cloth, spines lettered and stamped in gilt with a decorative shield, yellow coated endpapers
• Walter E. Smith records a schedule of internal typographic flaws in both volumes that should be checked against the copy

How to confirm the first-printing statement

Publishers stated first printings differently by era. The decisive tells are a printed “First Edition/First Printing” statement, a number line whose lowest number is 1 (Random House ends at 2), or a dated first printing with no later printings listed. Paste your copyright page into the number-line decoder.

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. 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.
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 census claim is confirmed. This is Dickens's true first book: the Macrone First Series of February 1836 precedes the first number of The Pickwick Papers (March 1836). There is no UK-vs-US or foreign-language precedence question. Note the date conflict in the record: Wikipedia dates the Second Series to August 1836, but this is contradicted by the auction and dealer record — the 20pp. of publisher's advertisements bound at the end are dated December 1836 and the printed title-page reads 1837, and Sotheby's catalogues the volume as '1837 [1836]'. December 1836 with an 1837-dated printed title is the correct description. A complete set requires both Series, each in its own distinct publisher's cloth (leaf-patterned dark green for the First Series, speckled pink for the Second) — the two series were never uniformly bound.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

Pre-dates book clubs. The principal traps are 'first thus': the Chapman and Hall reissue in twenty monthly parts (November 1837 - June 1839) and the Chapman and Hall one-volume edition of 1839, both with reworked Cruikshank plates, are commonly offered as firsts. Within Macrone's own printings, the Hazard and Vizetelly printer's imprints mark the second and third printings of the First Series — the Whiting imprint is the only first. A Second Series volume WITH the list of plates at the Contents is a later issue.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Sketches by Boz, Illustrative of Every-Day Life, and Every-Day People a first edition?

A first edition of Sketches by Boz, Illustrative of Every-Day Life, and Every-Day People by Charles Dickens (John Macrone, London) is identified by: FIRST SERIES: London: John Macrone, 1836; two volumes, 12mo, published February 1836, with the preface dated 'February, 1836'.

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 claim is confirmed.

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

Pre-dates book clubs. The principal traps are 'first thus': the Chapman and Hall reissue in twenty monthly parts (November 1837 - June 1839) and the Chapman and Hall one-volume edition of 1839, both with reworked Cruikshank plates, are commonly offered as firsts. Within Macrone's own printings, the Hazard and Vizetelly printer's imprints mark the second and third printings of the First Series — the Whiting imprint is the only first. A Second Series volume WITH the list of plates at the Contents

I have a first edition of Sketches by Boz, Illustrative of Every-Day Life, and Every-Day People — 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.