# Is "The Water-Witch, or The Skimmer of the Seas" by James Fenimore Cooper a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Water-Witch, or The Skimmer of the Seas by James Fenimore Cooper (Henry Colburn & Richard Bentley, 1830) is identified by: Cooper, then living in Dresden, arranged for a small edition to be printed there in English by C. The Dresden printing (before September 18, 1830) is the true first printing of the text; Spiller & Blackburn call The Water-Witch "the only genuine Continental first" among Cooper's novels printed abroad, since it was actually issued for sale in Dresden about a month before the London edition and roughly three months before the first American edition.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Cooper, then living in Dresden, arranged for a small edition to be printed there in English by C. C. Meinhold & Sons for the bookseller Walther, issued shortly before September 18, 1830; this Continental printing preceded Henry Colburn & Richard Bentley's three-volume London edition of October 14, 1830, and the Philadelphia edition from Carey & Lea, released December 11, 1830 though dated 1831 on its title page
- The definitive textual point of issue, recorded in Spiller & Blackburn's descriptive bibliography, is a misprint on page [3], line 1, of volume two of the Carey & Lea sheets: "mnch" for "much." Two states of the advertisement leaves bound into the front of volume one of the Carey & Lea sheets are recorded: four leaves plus two more dated November 1830, or six leaves dated March 1831
- The Carey & Lea first edition was issued in blue boards, uncut, with a white paper spine and paper labels, and also, for retail, in cut leather bindings; the London edition was issued in boards with paper labels
- Publisher imprint reads Henry Colburn & Richard Bentley
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | James Fenimore Cooper |
| Publisher | Henry Colburn & Richard Bentley |
| Year | 1830 |
| True first | American edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Cooper, then living in Dresden, arranged for a small edition to be printed there in English by C. C. Meinhold & Sons for the bookseller… |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
Cooper, then living in Dresden, arranged for a small edition to be printed there in English by C. C. Meinhold & Sons for the bookseller Walther, issued shortly before September 18, 1830; this Continental printing preceded Henry Colburn & Richard Bentley's three-volume London edition of October 14, 1830, and the Philadelphia edition from Carey & Lea, released December 11, 1830 though dated 1831 on its title page. The definitive textual point of issue, recorded in Spiller & Blackburn's descriptive bibliography, is a misprint on page [3], line 1, of volume two of the Carey & Lea sheets: "mnch" for "much." Two states of the advertisement leaves bound into the front of volume one of the Carey & Lea sheets are recorded: four leaves plus two more dated November 1830, or six leaves dated March 1831. The Carey & Lea first edition was issued in blue boards, uncut, with a white paper spine and paper labels, and also, for retail, in cut leather bindings; the London edition was issued in boards with paper labels.

## Is this the true first?
The Dresden printing (before September 18, 1830) is the true first printing of the text; Spiller & Blackburn call The Water-Witch "the only genuine Continental first" among Cooper's novels printed abroad, since it was actually issued for sale in Dresden about a month before the London edition and roughly three months before the first American edition. London (Colburn & Bentley, October 14, 1830) is the first English trade edition; the Carey & Lea Philadelphia sheets, though title-paged 1831, were released December 11, 1830.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Carey's 1838 and 1841 Philadelphia reprints, the 1849 Stringer & Townsend edition, and George Putnam's 1851 revised edition reset the type in uniform bindings without the advertisement-leaf states or the original blue-boards-and-label format of the 1830 Carey & Lea sheets, and none carry the "mnch" misprint.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Water-Witch, or The Skimmer of the Seas* by James Fenimore Cooper a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-water-witch-or-the-skimmer-of-the-seas
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.