Is My The Professor a First Edition?

The points of issue

• London: Smith, Elder and Co., 1857; two volumes, published 6 June 1857, two years after Charlotte Brontë's death, still under the pseudonym — 'The Professor, A Tale
• By Currer Bell.' Original publisher's purple cloth, blind-stamped on the upper and lower boards, spines lettered in gilt
• The first state carries publisher's advertisements dated June 1857 at the rear, with the publisher's catalogue at the end of volume II and adverts for Brontë's works at the end of both volumes; advertisements dated later than June 1857 indicate a later state
• Half-titles are present in both volumes, and the binder's ticket at the foot of the rear pastedown of volume I is as issued
• Standard references: Smith 7
• Sadleir 347

How Smith, Elder, London marked a first edition

• Original publisher's cloth binding (blind- and gilt-stamped), correct half-titles present, and an uncut or unopened text block support a first-issue state.

Full Smith, Elder, London first-edition guide →

How to verify your copy, step by step

1. Find the copyright page — the verso (back) of the title page.
2. 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.
3. Verify this is the American true first — not a later-market or reprint edition.
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.

Is this the true first?

Smith, Elder, London, 1857 is the true first and the census claim stands. Harper & Brothers, New York, published the first American edition the same year, 1857; it is a separately collected edition worth naming, but it follows the London printing and is not the true first. The book's oddity is genuine and the census states it correctly: The Professor was the first novel Charlotte completed and submitted — Smith, Elder rejected it in 1846 and again in 1851, steering her instead toward the longer work that became Jane Eyre — so the first-written novel is the last-published, and it closes the seven-novel Brontë canon.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book club edition is documented for an 1857 two-decker; the risk is the ordinary Victorian one. Smith, Elder's own later printings and the cheap collected and uniform editions of Charlotte Brontë's works are the common substitutes, and the Harper New York 1857 is frequently offered simply as 'first edition 1857' without the qualifier 'first American'. Copies rebound out of the original purple cloth lose the binding evidence entirely — Bonhams distinguishes 'the first edition, in the first binding' for exactly this reason — and a set whose rear advertisements have been removed cannot be placed in the first state.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Professor a first edition?

A first edition of The Professor by Charlotte Brontë (as 'Currer Bell') (Smith, Elder, London) is identified by: London: Smith, Elder and Co., 1857; two volumes, published 6 June 1857, two years after Charlotte Brontë's death, still under the pseudonym — 'The Professor, A Tale.

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. Smith, Elder, London, 1857 is the true first and the census claim stands.

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

No book club edition is documented for an 1857 two-decker; the risk is the ordinary Victorian one. Smith, Elder's own later printings and the cheap collected and uniform editions of Charlotte Brontë's works are the common substitutes, and the Harper New York 1857 is frequently offered simply as 'first edition 1857' without the qualifier 'first American'. Copies rebound out of the original purple cloth lose the binding evidence entirely — Bonhams distinguishes 'the first edition, in the first bin

I have a first edition of The Professor — 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.