Is My The Law and the Lady a First Edition?

The points of issue

• Published in the standard three-volume format by Chatto & Windus of Piccadilly in 1875 under a contract signed in September 1874, The Law and the Lady was the first new novel Collins placed with Chatto & Windus, who became his principal publisher for the rest of his career
• Each volume of the first edition is bound in plain green cloth without decoration, apart from a publisher's device blocked in blind on the front cover, and uses plain, undecorated endpapers -- a notably simpler binding than the elaborately gilt- and blind-decorated green cloth Chatto adopted a few years later for its uniform 'Piccadilly Novels' collected edition
• Each of the three volumes carries the Chatto & Windus, Piccadilly imprint dated 1875
• The novel introduces amateur investigator Valeria Woodville, one of Collins's few female detective protagonists

How Chatto & Windus marked a first edition

• The sometimes-present statement is 'Published by Chatto & Windus' WITHOUT a date, plus the printer's imprint (often R. & R. Clark, Edinburgh, in the early-mid 20th c.). Treat the claimed 'First published in Great Britain…

Full Chatto & Windus 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. 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.
5. 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.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

Later Chatto & Windus 'Piccadilly Novels' collected-edition reprints and cheap colonial reissues are bound in the more elaborately gilt- and blind-decorated green cloth that Chatto standardized on for that series from the mid-1870s onward, rather than the plain blind-stamped green cloth and plain endpapers of the 1875 three-volume first.P-036307

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Law and the Lady a first edition?

A first edition of The Law and the Lady by Wilkie Collins (Chatto & Windus) is identified by: Published in the standard three-volume format by Chatto & Windus of Piccadilly in 1875 under a contract signed in September 1874, The Law and the Lady was the first new novel Collins placed with Chatto & Windus, who became his principal publisher for the rest of his career.

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.

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

Later Chatto & Windus 'Piccadilly Novels' collected-edition reprints and cheap colonial reissues are bound in the more elaborately gilt- and blind-decorated green cloth that Chatto standardized on for that series from the mid-1870s onward, rather than the plain blind-stamped green cloth and plain endpapers of the 1875 three-volume first.

I have a first edition of The Law and the Lady — 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.