# Is "The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling" by Henry Fielding a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling by Henry Fielding (A. Millar, London, 1749) is identified by: London: printed for A. The census claim is CORRECT: A.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- London: printed for A. Millar, 1749; six volumes, duodecimo
- The entire first printing of 2,000 copies was taken up by the London trade before the announced publication date of 10 February 1749; publication followed on 28 February 1749, and three further editions appeared by September 1749 — roughly 10,000 copies in the year
- Because the 1749 editions are near-identical in appearance, collation is the ONLY test
- First edition, first issue points:
- the ERRATA LEAF present after the contents in Volume I, with the errata UNCORRECTED throughout the text (the second issue corrected them and made minor textual alterations)
- Volume I, p
- Publisher imprint reads A. Millar, London

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Henry Fielding |
| Publisher | A. Millar, London |
| Year | 1749 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | London: printed for A. Millar, 1749; six volumes, duodecimo |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
London: printed for A. Millar, 1749; six volumes, duodecimo. The entire first printing of 2,000 copies was taken up by the London trade before the announced publication date of 10 February 1749; publication followed on 28 February 1749, and three further editions appeared by September 1749 — roughly 10,000 copies in the year. Because the 1749 editions are near-identical in appearance, collation is the ONLY test. First edition, first issue points: (1) the ERRATA LEAF present after the contents in Volume I, with the errata UNCORRECTED throughout the text (the second issue corrected them and made minor textual alterations); (2) Volume I, p. 21, catchword "lected" (the second issue reads "who"); (3) Volume VI, B5 UNSIGNED; (4) the cancels present and signed with their respective volume numbers — Vol. I: B9-10; Vol. II: B4-5; Vol. III: H8-10, M3, Q11; Vol. V: N8. An additional cancel at Vol. II, N12 is recorded by dealers but is not called for in Rothschild; a cancel at Vol. IV, B1 is cited in some descriptions and not in others, so treat both as variable rather than as required points. Final blanks (e.g. K12 in Vol. I, R12 in Vol. III) should be present. No dust jacket exists for a 1749 duodecimo. References: Grolier English 48; Rothschild 850.

## Is this the true first?
The census claim is CORRECT: A. Millar, London, 1749, six volumes, is the true first — English author, London publisher, no earlier or foreign-language edition to displace it, so no UK/US or original-language precedence question arises. The first American edition is much later and is not the collected form. The real trap here is not geography but MADE-UP SETS: because four editions were printed in 1749 with matching title-pages, "first edition" sets are routinely assembled from mixed 1749 sheets, and a set is only a first edition if every volume passes its own collation. A set lacking the Volume I errata leaf, or with the errata corrected in the text, is not a first issue no matter what the title-pages say.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club edition exists for a 1749 imprint. Documented reprint tells: (1) any second/third/fourth 1749 Millar edition — identified by the corrected errata, the "who" catchword at Vol. I p. 21, and B5 signed in Vol. VI — these are the single most common thing mistaken for the first; (2) 19th-century multi-volume sets and the standard Victorian illustrated editions (Cruikshank and successors); (3) 20th-century subscription and press reprints — Limited Editions Club / Heritage Press, Folio Society, Franklin Library — identifiable by modern paper, publisher's decorated cloth or leatherette, a colophon leaf, and a 20th-century copyright notice. A genuine 1749 Millar set has no copyright page; it will be in contemporary calf or a later fine binding.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling* by Henry Fielding a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-history-of-tom-jones-a-foundling
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.