# Is "The Mysteries of Udolpho, A Romance" by Ann Radcliffe a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Mysteries of Udolpho, A Romance by Ann Radcliffe (G. G. and J. Robinson, 1794) is identified by: Robinson, London, on 8 May 1794, in four octavo volumes. A rival Dublin edition, also dated 1794, was issued the same year under the era's separate Irish reprint trade, a common and legal practice at the time, but it does not have precedence over the authorized London Robinson edition.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Published by G. G. and J. Robinson, London, on 8 May 1794, in four octavo volumes
- A complete first-edition set carries all four half-titles, which are frequently missing from copies that have passed through a binder's hands, making their presence a key completeness point
- Collation is Volume I: 428 pages
- Volume II: 478 pages
- Volume III: 463 pages
- Volume IV: 428 pages
- Publisher imprint reads G. G. and J. Robinson

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Ann Radcliffe |
| Publisher | G. G. and J. Robinson |
| Year | 1794 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Published by G. G. and J. Robinson, London, on 8 May 1794, in four octavo volumes |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
Published by G. G. and J. Robinson, London, on 8 May 1794, in four octavo volumes. A complete first-edition set carries all four half-titles, which are frequently missing from copies that have passed through a binder's hands, making their presence a key completeness point. Collation is Volume I: 428 pages; Volume II: 478 pages; Volume III: 463 pages; Volume IV: 428 pages. The novel's success helped establish the Gothic romance as a defined and widely imitated publishing category in England.

## Is this the true first?
A rival Dublin edition, also dated 1794, was issued the same year under the era's separate Irish reprint trade, a common and legal practice at the time, but it does not have precedence over the authorized London Robinson edition.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Nineteenth-century one-volume abridgments, such as George Routledge and Sons' cheap illustrated reprint of the 1880s, condense Radcliffe's four-volume text into a single volume and do not reproduce the original 1794 structure or half-titles.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Mysteries of Udolpho, A Romance* by Ann Radcliffe a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-mysteries-of-udolpho-a-romance
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.