Is My The Cricket on the Hearth: A Fairy Tale of Home a First Edition?

The points of issue

• First edition, third of the five Christmas Books; title-page dated 1846 but published 20 December 1845 and sold out before the new year
• Imprint reads Bradbury and Evans FOR THE AUTHOR. Collation runs [viii], 174, [2] advertisements
• Fourteen illustrations by John Leech, Richard Doyle, Clarkson Stanfield, Daniel Maclise and Edwin Landseer; the engraved frontispiece and additional pictorial title are after Maclise, engraved by John Thompson and G. Dalziel, with original tissue guards
• Publisher's binding is red ribbed cloth, covers blind-decorated, the upper cover with a pictorial gilt fireplace design, spine lettered and ornamented in gilt, pale yellow-coated endpapers, all edges gilt (Sotheby's describes the cloth as vertically ribbed, Jarndyce as horizontal-grained - the grain description is not settled, the color is)
• The issue point is the terminal Oliver Twist advertisement leaf: FIRST state has the italic headline set in TWO lines
• SECOND state (the second issue) has that headline re-set to occupy THREE lines

How Bradbury and Evans, London marked a first edition

• Originally printers who became publishers: 19th-century firsts carry no edition statement — use title-page date, absence of any later-printing notice, and correct imprint.
• For Dickens novels issued in monthly parts, the true 'first' is the original part-issue (paper wrappers, with the correct inserted advertisements/'Dickens advertiser' and plates in the right states) — the bound first edi…

Full Bradbury and Evans, London 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. Verify this is the American 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 correct and needs no correction: Bradbury and Evans, London, title dated 1846, issued December 1845, and it is indeed the third of the five Christmas Books, completing the set with The Haunted Man alongside A Christmas Carol, The Chimes and The Battle of Life. Note only that the imprint is 'for the author' - Dickens retained the publishing risk on the Christmas Books - and that the full title is 'The Cricket on the Hearth: A Fairy Tale of Home'. No American or other edition holds precedence over the London issue; the 1845/1846 date discrepancy is a post-dated title-page, not a precedence question.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club issue at this date. The live trap is the advertisement-leaf state: dealers routinely offer second-issue copies (three-line italic headline) as plain 'first edition' - correct as to edition, but the second issue, and Jarndyce catalogs such copies explicitly as 'FIRST EDITION, 2nd issue'. Copies lacking the terminal advertisement leaf altogether cannot be placed by this point. The book went through many editions within its first year (dealers cite twenty-two), and the 1886 'new edition' and later reprints are commonly confused with the 1846-dated first.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Cricket on the Hearth: A Fairy Tale of Home a first edition?

A first edition of The Cricket on the Hearth: A Fairy Tale of Home by Charles Dickens (Bradbury and Evans, London) is identified by: First edition, third of the five Christmas Books; title-page dated 1846 but published 20 December 1845 and sold out before the new year.

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 correct and needs no correction: Bradbury and Evans, London, title dated 1846, issued December 1845, and it is indeed the third of the five Christmas Books, completing the set with The Haunted Man alongside A Christmas Carol, The Chimes and The Battle of Life.

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

No book-club issue at this date. The live trap is the advertisement-leaf state: dealers routinely offer second-issue copies (three-line italic headline) as plain 'first edition' - correct as to edition, but the second issue, and Jarndyce catalogs such copies explicitly as 'FIRST EDITION, 2nd issue'. Copies lacking the terminal advertisement leaf altogether cannot be placed by this point. The book went through many editions within its first year (dealers cite twenty-two), and the 1886 'new editio

I have a first edition of The Cricket on the Hearth: A Fairy Tale of Home — 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.