# Is "Utilitarianism" by John Stuart Mill a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Utilitarianism by John Stuart Mill (Parker, Son, and Bourn, 1863) is identified by: First book-form edition, London: Parker, Son, and Bourn, 1863, collating 95pp plus 4pp of publisher's advertisements, bound in the publisher's original plum cloth with the spine lettered in gilt, and measuring about 22 cm. The Fraser's Magazine serialization of 1861 precedes the first book-form edition of 1863; bibliographers and collectors nonetheless treat the 1863 Parker, Son, and Bourn volume as the first edition in book form.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- First book-form edition, London: Parker, Son, and Bourn, 1863, collating 95pp plus 4pp of publisher's advertisements, bound in the publisher's original plum cloth with the spine lettered in gilt, and measuring about 22 cm
- The text had first appeared as three unsigned articles in Fraser's Magazine in 1861 before Mill lightly revised and collected it for this first separate book publication
- A genuine first edition carries the Parker, Son, and Bourn imprint of 1863
- Publisher imprint reads Parker, Son, and Bourn
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | John Stuart Mill |
| Publisher | Parker, Son, and Bourn |
| Year | 1863 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First book-form edition, London: Parker, Son, and Bourn, 1863, collating 95pp plus 4pp of publisher's advertisements, bound in the… |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
First book-form edition, London: Parker, Son, and Bourn, 1863, collating 95pp plus 4pp of publisher's advertisements, bound in the publisher's original plum cloth with the spine lettered in gilt, and measuring about 22 cm. The text had first appeared as three unsigned articles in Fraser's Magazine in 1861 before Mill lightly revised and collected it for this first separate book publication. A genuine first edition carries the Parker, Son, and Bourn imprint of 1863.

## Is this the true first?
The Fraser's Magazine serialization of 1861 precedes the first book-form edition of 1863; bibliographers and collectors nonetheless treat the 1863 Parker, Son, and Bourn volume as the first edition in book form.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Mill's second edition of 1864 was issued not by Parker, Son, and Bourn but by Longman, Green, Longman, Roberts, and Green, with the text lightly corrected; the publisher's imprint on the title page is the clearest way to distinguish an 1863 first edition from the 1864 second edition.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Utilitarianism* by John Stuart Mill a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/utilitarianism
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.