# Is "The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" by Edward Gibbon a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire by Edward Gibbon (W. Strahan and T. Cadell, London, 1776) is identified by: Six quarto volumes printed for W. London is the true first and there is no competing original-language or foreign edition - Gibbon wrote in English and Strahan and Cadell printed it.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Six quarto volumes printed for W. Strahan and T. Cadell, London: vol
- I 1776 (published 17 February), vols
- II-III 1781, vols
- IV-VI 1788
- A first-edition title page carries no edition statement; any title reading "The Second Edition" or later is not the first
- Volume I exists in two states, recorded by both Norton and Rothschild: the earlier state has leaves X4, a4 and b2 uncancelled with the errata still uncorrected in the text; the later state consists of the opening sheets reset after Strahan doubled the run from 500 to 1,000 copies, at which point many errata were corrected in the type
- Publisher imprint reads W. Strahan and T. Cadell, London

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Edward Gibbon |
| Publisher | W. Strahan and T. Cadell, London |
| Year | 1776 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Six quarto volumes printed for W. Strahan and T. Cadell, London: vol |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
Six quarto volumes printed for W. Strahan and T. Cadell, London: vol. I 1776 (published 17 February), vols. II-III 1781, vols. IV-VI 1788. A first-edition title page carries no edition statement; any title reading "The Second Edition" or later is not the first. Volume I exists in two states, recorded by both Norton and Rothschild: the earlier state has leaves X4, a4 and b2 uncancelled with the errata still uncorrected in the text; the later state consists of the opening sheets reset after Strahan doubled the run from 500 to 1,000 copies, at which point many errata were corrected in the type. Both states are first edition, and each accounts for roughly half the printing, so "first state" and "second state" describe the setting, not a later edition. Errata leaves are called for in vols. I, II, III and VI (the vol. VI errata cover vols. IV-VI), and the twelve pages of Contents belonging to vol. I are bound at the front of vol. II - a correct set has them there, not in vol. I. Further checkpoints: the engraved portrait of Gibbon by John Hall after Reynolds at the start of vol. II; three engraved folding maps by Kitchin (bound in vol. II, one commonly moved to vol. III); cancels G1 and Ll1 in vol. II (signed G* and *Ll) and H3 and L2 in vol. IV (L2 signed *L2); p. 177 in vol. III correctly numbered; and the misprint "Honorious" for "Honorius" at vol. III p. 179, line 18. References: Norton 20, 23, 29; PMM 222; Rothschild 942-944.

## Is this the true first?
London is the true first and there is no competing original-language or foreign edition - Gibbon wrote in English and Strahan and Cadell printed it. The census claim of "three printings that year" for vol. I is inexact and is corrected here: vol. I went through a second edition dated June 1776 and a third edition before vol. II appeared in 1781, so two editions bear an 1776 date and only the February issue is the first. Because the six volumes appeared across twelve years, mixed sets are the normal trap - sets offered as first editions frequently carry a second-edition vol. I - so every volume must be collated and dated on its own.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club issue exists for an eighteenth-century quarto. The reprint tells are format and imprint: the first is quarto printed for W. Strahan and T. Cadell, London. Later London editions state their edition on the title page; contemporary octavo reprints and non-London imprints are separate editions rather than states of the first.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The History of the Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire* by Edward Gibbon a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-history-of-the-decline-and-fall-of-the-roman-empire
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.