# Is "The French Revolution: A History" by Thomas Carlyle a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The French Revolution: A History by Thomas Carlyle (James Fraser, 1837) is identified by: First edition, London: James Fraser, 1837, in three octavo volumes collating vii,[1],404; vii,[1],422,[2]; vii,[1],448pp, including a half-title in each volume.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First edition, London: James Fraser, 1837, in three octavo volumes collating vii,[1],404; vii,[1],422,[2]; vii,[1],448pp, including a half-title in each volume
- This is a reconstructed text: the only complete manuscript of the first volume, which Carlyle had lent to John Stuart Mill, was accidentally burned as waste paper in March 1835 by a maidservant at the house of Mill's friend Mrs
- (Harriet) Taylor, where Mill had left it, and Carlyle rewrote the volume from memory before publication
- Carlyle continued to revise the text for the Second Edition
- and Third Edition
- , so only the plain three-volume 1837 James Fraser imprint carries the original, unrevised first setting
- Publisher imprint reads James Fraser

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Thomas Carlyle |
| Publisher | James Fraser |
| Year | 1837 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First edition, London: James Fraser, 1837, in three octavo volumes collating vii,[1],404; vii,[1],422,[2]; vii,[1],448pp, including a… |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
First edition, London: James Fraser, 1837, in three octavo volumes collating vii,[1],404; vii,[1],422,[2]; vii,[1],448pp, including a half-title in each volume. This is a reconstructed text: the only complete manuscript of the first volume, which Carlyle had lent to John Stuart Mill, was accidentally burned as waste paper in March 1835 by a maidservant at the house of Mill's friend Mrs. (Harriet) Taylor, where Mill had left it, and Carlyle rewrote the volume from memory before publication. Carlyle continued to revise the text for the Second Edition (1839) and Third Edition (1848), so only the plain three-volume 1837 James Fraser imprint carries the original, unrevised first setting.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Carlyle revised the text for the Second Edition (1839), Third Edition (1848), and the Uniform Edition (1857-58); only the three-volume 1837 James Fraser first edition preserves the wording he originally published.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The French Revolution: A History* by Thomas Carlyle a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-french-revolution-a-history
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.