Dealings with the Firm of Dombey and Son

The census claim is confirmed but needs its framing tightened. The precedence question here is not UK-vs-US or original-language; it is parts-vs-book, and both are Bradbury and Evans, London. The twenty monthly numbers (October 1846 - April 1848) precede and are the true first; the 12 April 1848 volume is correctly described as the first edition in book form, not simply 'the first edition'. Both are separately and legitimately collected, and each must be described as what it is. Note that dealers cite the parts' run variously as October 1846 - April 1848 (cover dates) or September 1846 - March 1848 (dates of actual issue, each number appearing at the end of the preceding month); both describe the same run.