Is My The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain a First Edition?

The points of issue

• Title page dated 1848; published 19 December 1848
• First edition, first issue collates [8], 188 pp, 8vo (approx
• 165 x 103 mm), with an advertisement leaf preceding the engraved frontispiece and engraved vignette title on toned grounds, and 17 illustrations after John Tenniel, John Leech, Frank Stone and Clarkson Stanfield
• 131) records the only identifiable issue point: the first page numeral on p
• 166 is broken/damaged
• Eckel places the break as having occurred during the printing of the first issue, but there is no evidence whether it happened early or late in that printing, so priority is not established and the point is not decisive on its own

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: Bradbury and Evans, London, 1848 is the true first, the fifth and last of the five Christmas Books. Two precedence traps. First, Bernh. Tauchnitz Jun., Leipzig, issued a 'Copyright Edition' reported by L.W. Currey to have been published simultaneously with the London edition on 19 December 1848 — catalogued as the first European (Continental) edition, so lettered on its title; only one source consulted asserts the simultaneity, so treat that claim as provisional. It is a separate edition collected by Dickens completists, not a substitute for the London issue, which holds precedence for the Christmas Books run. Second, the first American edition followed on 6 January 1849 — closer to the London date than for the other Christmas Books, but still a later, separate edition.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club issue exists for an 1848 Dickens imprint. The documented reprint and confusion tells are the simultaneous Tauchnitz Leipzig 'Copyright Edition' (identified by its Leipzig imprint and 'Copyright Edition' title-page wording), the first American edition of 6 January 1849, and later Victorian reprints that retain the original wood-engraved illustrations. No other issue points beyond the p. 166 numeral are documented for the London first.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain a first edition?

A first edition of The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain by Charles Dickens (Bradbury and Evans, London) is identified by: Title page dated 1848; published 19 December 1848.

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: Bradbury and Evans, London, 1848 is the true first, the fifth and last of the five Christmas Books.

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

No book-club issue exists for an 1848 Dickens imprint. The documented reprint and confusion tells are the simultaneous Tauchnitz Leipzig 'Copyright Edition' (identified by its Leipzig imprint and 'Copyright Edition' title-page wording), the first American edition of 6 January 1849, and later Victorian reprints that retain the original wood-engraved illustrations. No other issue points beyond the p. 166 numeral are documented for the London first.

I have a first edition of The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain — 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.