# Is "The Eustace Diamonds" by Anthony Trollope a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Eustace Diamonds by Anthony Trollope (Chapman and Hall, 1873) is identified by: First UK book edition in three volumes; the set was released in December 1872, though the title pages of all three volumes carry the date 1873, and it followed an American Harper single-volume edition issued two months earlier in October 1872. The American Harper edition (one volume, October 1872) precedes the English three-volume Chapman and Hall edition by about two months; although the London set was released in December 1872, its title pages read 1873, and it remains the standard first edition sought by collectors of the Palliser series.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First UK book edition in three volumes; the set was released in December 1872, though the title pages of all three volumes carry the date 1873, and it followed an American Harper single-volume edition issued two months earlier in October 1872
- Sadleir describes the standard publisher's binding as salmon-brown sand-grained cloth with gilt-lettered spines, with a scarcer variant recorded in green embossed cloth with pale yellow endpapers -- a binding state Sadleir does not record -- and a further, uncommon variant in 'a definite brown' cloth with black (not gilt) spine lettering
- The binding-cloth color and spine-lettering color are themselves checkable points distinguishing these variant first-issue bindings from one another
- Publisher imprint reads Chapman and Hall
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Anthony Trollope |
| Publisher | Chapman and Hall |
| Year | 1873 |
| True first | American edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First UK book edition in three volumes; the set was released in December 1872, though the title pages of all three volumes carry the date… |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
First UK book edition in three volumes; the set was released in December 1872, though the title pages of all three volumes carry the date 1873, and it followed an American Harper single-volume edition issued two months earlier in October 1872. Sadleir describes the standard publisher's binding as salmon-brown sand-grained cloth with gilt-lettered spines, with a scarcer variant recorded in green embossed cloth with pale yellow endpapers -- a binding state Sadleir does not record -- and a further, uncommon variant in 'a definite brown' cloth with black (not gilt) spine lettering. The binding-cloth color and spine-lettering color are themselves checkable points distinguishing these variant first-issue bindings from one another.

## Is this the true first?
The American Harper edition (one volume, October 1872) precedes the English three-volume Chapman and Hall edition by about two months; although the London set was released in December 1872, its title pages read 1873, and it remains the standard first edition sought by collectors of the Palliser series.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Eustace Diamonds* by Anthony Trollope a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-eustace-diamonds
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.