# Is "The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain" by Charles Dickens a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain by Charles Dickens (Bradbury and Evans, London, 1848) is identified by: Title page dated 1848; published 19 December 1848. The census claim is correct: Bradbury and Evans, London, 1848 is the true first, the fifth and last of the five Christmas Books.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- 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
- Publisher imprint reads Bradbury and Evans, London

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Charles Dickens |
| Publisher | Bradbury and Evans, London |
| Year | 1848 |
| True first | American edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Title page dated 1848; published 19 December 1848 |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## 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. Eckel (p. 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. Binding: original deep red cloth, gilt Christmas wreath enclosing gilt lettering on the upper cover, blind-stamped decoration to both covers, spine lettered and decorated in gilt, yellow-coated endpapers, all edges gilt. Referenced as Smith II:9 (Smith II, pp. 66-70).

## 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.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain* by Charles Dickens a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-haunted-man-and-the-ghosts-bargain
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.