Is My The Subjection of Women a First Edition?

The points of issue

• First edition, first printing: Longmans, Green, Reader, and Dyer, London, 1869, octavo
• Issued in publisher's original ochre/light-orange cloth, stamped in blind on the boards with the spine lettered in gilt; edges uncut
• There is no printed edition statement and no number line — the 1869 Longmans title-page imprint is itself the point, and copies are identified by imprint plus the original cloth
• Later Longmans printings and the 1878 and subsequent 'People's Edition' issues carry their own dated or numbered title pages and are not the first
• Scarce in the original publisher's cloth; many surviving copies were rebound in contemporary calf or half morocco

How to confirm the first-printing statement

Publishers stated first printings differently by era. The decisive tells are a printed “First Edition/First Printing” statement, a number line whose lowest number is 1 (Random House ends at 2), or a dated first printing with no later printings listed. Paste your copyright page into the number-line decoder.

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. Read the number line — the lowest number is the printing. A line including 1 is a first printing (Random House deliberately ends at 2). Paste it into the decoder.
4. Verify this is the American true first — not a later-market or reprint edition.
5. 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.
6. 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?

CENSUS CORRECTED. The London 1869 Longmans, Green, Reader, and Dyer edition is the true first. The census claim that the same-year American printing is D. Appleton, New York, is wrong: the first American edition is J. B. Lippincott & Co., Philadelphia, 1869 (174 pp., with 6 pp. of advertisements at the end), issued in green pebbled cloth with gilt-lettered spine. D. Appleton & Company did publish a New York edition in 1869, but dealers catalogue it as the 'First New York Edition' and expressly note the work was 'published first in Philadelphia by J. B. Lippincott & Co. in 1869' — a concession made against the cataloguing dealer's own interest. Both London Longmans 1869 and Lippincott Philadelphia 1869 are collected; the Appleton New York 1869 is a same-year secondary American edition, not the first American.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club issue is documented for an 1869 title. The trap here is the later Longmans 'People's Edition' and the 1878 reissue, both of which reprint from the same setting and are frequently offered as firsts on the strength of the Longmans imprint alone — check for the 1869 date on the title page. Modern reprints (Routledge, Oxford World's Classics, Dover) are plainly marked.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Subjection of Women a first edition?

A first edition of The Subjection of Women by John Stuart Mill (Longmans, Green, Reader, and Dyer, London) is identified by: First edition, first printing: Longmans, Green, Reader, and Dyer, London, 1869, octavo.

How do I tell the first printing from a later one?

Check the copyright page. A number line whose lowest number is 1 marks a first printing (Random House ends at 2). CENSUS CORRECTED.

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

No book-club issue is documented for an 1869 title. The trap here is the later Longmans 'People's Edition' and the 1878 reissue, both of which reprint from the same setting and are frequently offered as firsts on the strength of the Longmans imprint alone — check for the 1869 date on the title page. Modern reprints (Routledge, Oxford World's Classics, Dover) are plainly marked.

I have a first edition of The Subjection of Women — 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.