# Is "Sonnets from the Portuguese (in Poems, New Edition)" by Elizabeth Barrett Browning a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Sonnets from the Portuguese (in Poems, New Edition) by Elizabeth Barrett Browning (Chapman and Hall, 1850) 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. The sonnets did not appear as a stand-alone publication; they first reached print buried within this two-volume "New Edition" of Poems.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- 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."
- Publisher imprint reads Chapman and Hall
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Elizabeth Barrett Browning |
| Publisher | Chapman and Hall |
| Year | 1850 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Poetry |
| Key point | This "New Edition" of Barrett Browning's collected Poems (the second edition overall, following the 1844 Moxon first edition) is the true… |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## 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."

## 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.

## 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.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Sonnets from the Portuguese (in Poems, New Edition)* by Elizabeth Barrett Browning a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/sonnets-from-the-portuguese-in-poems-new-edition
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.