# Is "The Principles and Practice of Medicine" by William Osler a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Principles and Practice of Medicine by William Osler (D. Appleton and Company, 1892) is identified by: First edition, first issue.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First edition, first issue
- First-issue copies misspell Plato's dialogue Gorgias as 'Georgias' on the verso of the third leaf; this was corrected to 'Gorgias' only in the second printing of April 1892
- Within the first printing itself, the earliest copies carry publisher's advertisements dated November 1891, while later first-printing copies carry advertisements dated March 1892, making the November-1891-ad state the earliest
- Three thousand copies of the first printing sold within two months of publication
- Publisher imprint reads D. Appleton and Company
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | William Osler |
| Publisher | D. Appleton and Company |
| Year | 1892 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First edition, first issue |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
First edition, first issue. First-issue copies misspell Plato's dialogue Gorgias as 'Georgias' on the verso of the third leaf; this was corrected to 'Gorgias' only in the second printing of April 1892. Within the first printing itself, the earliest copies carry publisher's advertisements dated November 1891, while later first-printing copies carry advertisements dated March 1892, making the November-1891-ad state the earliest. Three thousand copies of the first printing sold within two months of publication.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Principles and Practice of Medicine* by William Osler a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-principles-and-practice-of-medicine
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.