Is My The Water-Babies: A Fairy Tale for a Land-Baby a First Edition?

The points of issue

• First edition, small square octavo, following serialization in Macmillan's Magazine from August 1862 to March 1863
• The true first state includes a leaf bearing a poem titled 'L'Envoi', which Kingsley had removed from all but the first roughly 200 copies while the book was still being printed
• Most surviving first editions are therefore the 'second state' lacking the L'Envoi leaf, paginated [viii],[3],4-350,[1 ad],1 blank
• This second state carries an inserted frontispiece and a full-page illustration facing page 145, eight large engraved initial letters, and is bound in dark green fine-grain cloth with gilt decoration

How Macmillan and Co. marked a first edition

• FIRM SPLIT FIRST — this is the master rule. 'Macmillan' is not one publisher. The London parent was founded in 1843 by Daniel and Alexander Macmillan; George Edward Brett opened the New York office in 1869; in 1896 the f…
• US Macmillan, pre-late-1800s: no printing statement was used. Treat the book as a first only when the date on the TITLE page matches the last (latest) date on the copyright page. A title-page year EARLIER than the latest…

Full Macmillan and Co. 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

The book stayed in print with wholly new illustration programs — Linley Sambourne's 100 illustrations for the 1885 edition, Warwick Goble's color plates for 1909, and W. Heath Robinson's for Constable's 1915 edition among them — so an illustrated 'gift book' copy of The Water-Babies is not the sparingly illustrated 1863 Macmillan first edition and should not be mistaken for it.P-034918

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Water-Babies: A Fairy Tale for a Land-Baby a first edition?

A first edition of The Water-Babies: A Fairy Tale for a Land-Baby by Charles Kingsley (Macmillan and Co.) is identified by: First edition, small square octavo, following serialization in Macmillan's Magazine from August 1862 to March 1863.

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?

The book stayed in print with wholly new illustration programs — Linley Sambourne's 100 illustrations for the 1885 edition, Warwick Goble's color plates for 1909, and W. Heath Robinson's for Constable's 1915 edition among them — so an illustrated 'gift book' copy of The Water-Babies is not the sparingly illustrated 1863 Macmillan first edition and should not be mistaken for it.

I have a first edition of The Water-Babies: A Fairy Tale for a Land-Baby — 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.