Is My Sonnets from the Portuguese (in Poems, New Edition) a First Edition?

The points of issue

• This "New Edition" of Barrett Browning's collected Poems (the second edition overall, following the 1844 Moxon first edition) is the true first appearance in print of the 44-sonnet sequence "Sonnets from the Portuguese," set at the end of volume II, pages 438-480
• Two volumes, small octavo, collating xii, 362, [1], [1]pp and viii, 480pp; two title-page states are known, the earlier reading "Chapman & Hall, 186, Strand" and the later "Chapman & Hall, 193, Piccadilly (Late 186, Strand)." Bound in the publisher's original teal-green blind-stamped cloth, spine lettered in gilt with the author's married name, "Elizth Barrett / Browning."

How Chapman and Hall 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 classi…

Full Chapman and Hall 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. 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. 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 sonnets did not appear as a stand-alone publication; they first reached print buried within this two-volume "New Edition" of Poems. A supposed "Reading, 1847: Not for Publication" pamphlet edition of Sonnets from the Portuguese, once treated by some collectors as an ultra-rare true first, was exposed in 1934 by John Carter and Graham Pollard as a forgery manufactured by Thomas J. Wise no earlier than the 1880s; it has no bibliographic standing and must not be treated as preceding the 1850 Chapman and Hall Poems.P-035011

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

Many decorative twentieth-century stand-alone editions of Sonnets from the Portuguese exist for gift-book purposes; none of these is a first edition, since Barrett Browning never issued the sequence alone in her lifetime.P-035012

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Sonnets from the Portuguese (in Poems, New Edition) a first edition?

A first edition of Sonnets from the Portuguese (in Poems, New Edition) by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (Chapman and Hall) is identified by: This "New Edition" of Barrett Browning's collected Poems (the second edition overall, following the 1844 Moxon first edition) is the true first appearance in print of the 44-sonnet sequence "Sonnets from the Portuguese," set at the end of volume II, pages 438-480.

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 sonnets did not appear as a stand-alone publication; they first reached print buried within this two-volume "New Edition" of Poems.

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

Many decorative twentieth-century stand-alone editions of Sonnets from the Portuguese exist for gift-book purposes; none of these is a first edition, since Barrett Browning never issued the sequence alone in her lifetime.

I have a first edition of Sonnets from the Portuguese (in Poems, New Edition) — 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.