The Diverting History of John Gilpin (text by William Cowper)

The fragile shilling wrappers were rarely preserved, so many surviving "first editions" are actually later Routledge reprints, later Frederick Warne printings (Routledge sold its children's-book interests and the colour plates to Warne circa 1900, after which the Warne name and a stiffer binding replaced the Routledge wrappers), or copies rebound/extracted from the multi-title bound "Picture Book" omnibus volumes — these are cataloged as later printings or "First Edition Thus," not the 1878 first. Reprints are betrayed by later titles appearing in the rear-wrapper advertisement lists and by the Edmund Evans imprint carrying the "E.C." postal district (post-1883); Warne printings later add "Ltd." (post-1917). Collected/omnibus gift volumes gathering several stories are convenient but are not the first appearance of the individual 1878 title.