# Is "The Duke's Children" by Anthony Trollope a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Duke's Children by Anthony Trollope (Chapman & Hall, 1880) is identified by: True first published by Chapman & Hall, London, 1880, in three octavo volumes (approx. The London Chapman & Hall 1880 three-decker is the true first; the American edition (Harper & Brothers, New York, 1880, per the census note) followed and is secondary.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- True first published by Chapman & Hall, London, 1880, in three octavo volumes (approx
- 190 x 125 mm), the concluding Palliser novel
- First-issue points: original dark blue-green publisher's cloth with a blocked design to the front boards and gilt spine lettering (title, author, publisher); half-titles present in all three volumes; publisher's advertisements bound at the end of Volume III. Approximate pagination Vol
- I ~320, Vol
- II ~327, Vol
- III ~312 pp
- Publisher imprint reads Chapman & Hall

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Anthony Trollope |
| Publisher | Chapman & Hall |
| Year | 1880 |
| True first | American edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | True first published by Chapman & Hall, London, 1880, in three octavo volumes (approx |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
True first published by Chapman & Hall, London, 1880, in three octavo volumes (approx. 190 x 125 mm), the concluding Palliser novel. First-issue points: original dark blue-green publisher's cloth with a blocked design to the front boards and gilt spine lettering (title, author, publisher); half-titles present in all three volumes; publisher's advertisements bound at the end of Volume III. Approximate pagination Vol. I ~320, Vol. II ~327, Vol. III ~312 pp. Catalogued Sadleir (Trollope) 57. Per Sadleir the novel was never reprinted in its original three-decker form, so any later three-volume set is anomalous and should be scrutinized.

## Is this the true first?
The London Chapman & Hall 1880 three-decker is the true first; the American edition (Harper & Brothers, New York, 1880, per the census note) followed and is secondary. Important: the 1880 text is Trollope's own contractual abridgement (he cut roughly a quarter, about 65,000 words); the restored full-length text ('The Duke's Children Complete') did not appear until 2015, so the 1880 three-decker remains the true first of the work as published in his lifetime.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
First-thus trap: The Folio Society's 2015 'Complete' edition (restored from the Beinecke manuscript by Steven Amarnick, limited to 1,980 copies, later trade reprints) is the first unabridged text but is a modern reprint, not the 1880 first. Oxford and Trollope Society editions are reprints.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Duke's Children* by Anthony Trollope a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-dukes-children
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.