Want to know how much your Charles Dickens first edition is worth? ...or if what you have is actually a first edition? This comprehensive guide looks to answer these two questions for you, among many others.
Collecting Dickens first editions is an incredibly rewarding and enjoyable endeavour, with some of his works being some of the most bibliographically complex books there are. This guide focuses only on the first editions, as opposed to collectible later editions such as the Nonesuch Press Dickens, etc.
One does not need a substantial amount of money to begin a Dickens collection and many of the first editions can be acquired for a relatively small sum of money. We have sold some first editions of Dickens' works for as little as £20 before, and many in excess of £10,000. As of when this guide was written, we have sold at least one example of all but one of Dickens' works in first edition form, including the minor works, and so we have undertaken a great deal of research in constructing this first edition identification guide over the last few years and hope it is of use to collectors! Please do feel free to reproduce any section of this Dickens guide freely for your use.
We have put together this collecting guide to provide some information with regard to identifying Dickens first editions through the various 'edition points'. These generally originate from errors in the first or early printings which were corrected in later printings. For example, in the first printing of Our Mutual Friend, one always finds the misspelling of 'principal' as 'pricipal' on page 115 of volume two. If this isn't there, it's not a first impression. There is also a guide to the value of the first editions of Charles Dickens books in each section based on our extensive experience having bought and sold a significant amount of Dickens first editions.
*These guides refer to the first editions in book form. Many first appeared in monthly or weekly serial publications. We are looking to expand this guide to include these in the future. If you think you have a first edition in the original parts, we recommend Walter E. Smith's book on identifying Dickens in the original parts. There is some limited discussion of the original cloth for some of the books, but this guide does not delve into identification of the original cloth. For now, we would just recommend searching for some images of known examples in the original cloth online and comparing your copy to check.
Order of Books:
- The Pickwick Papers (1837)
- Oliver Twist (1838)
- Nicholas Nickleby (1839)
- Master Humphrey's Clock (1840-41)
- A Christmas Carol (1843)
- Martin Chuzzlewit (1844)
- The Battle of Life (1846)
- Dombey and Son (1848)
- David Copperfield (1850)
- Bleak House (1853)
- Little Dorrit (1857)
- A Tale of Two Cities (1859)
- Great Expectations (1861)
- Our Mutual Friend (1865)
- The Mystery of Edwin Drood (1870)
1. The Pickwick Papers (1837)
This is without a doubt the most complicated of Dickens' works to identify the first edition, but also the most fun!
Mistakes are very frequently made by booksellers in cataloguing editions of this book, erroneously describing their copy as a "first impression". Only one true first impression of this book is known to exist, and it sold for over $100,000 (USD) because of just how rare this is. The Pickwick Papers was originally released in monthly parts and then bound up into a book afterwards. You'll notice in a copy of the first edition that there are 'stab holes' in the inner margin which shows that this is the case. There are 7 fundamental 'first impression' points, the more a copy has, the earlier it is. Having all 7 points is incredibly rare and very very few examples are known to exist. For it to be a true first impression, all of the illustrations (known as 'plates') need to be in their first state too. We won't be covering how to identify those here as that would be a very long guide indeed.
1) 'E' missing at the bottom of pp.25 [rarest]
2) 'hodling' for 'holding' pp.260 line 29
3) figure '7' in page number of pp.276 slightly above other figures
4) pp.341 line 1 correct reading of "inde-licate", line 5 with the correct reading of "inscription"
5) pp.342 line 5 reads "S. Veller" uncorrected
6) pp.400 line 21 reads "this friends" instead of "his friends"
7) pp.432 headline 'F' in 'OF' imperfect.
Other important early issue points include the presence of the two illustrated plates opposite pages 69 and 74 which are signed 'Buss' at the bottom. These did not appear after November 1836 and so any copy with these is a very early printing indeed, or at least of this part of the book. We have only encountered two examples of this first edition with the suppressed Buss plates and these tend to be much more valuable because of these. Another point is the sign on the frontispiece reading 'Veller' instead of 'Weller'. Though both of these states were issues simultaneously and so this doesn't actually effect the earliness of the printing, the 'Veller' state is more desirable as it is rarer.
This first edition in typical rebound form tends to sell for £150-£200 and if in particularly nice condition can command more than double this, or if in particularly poor condition can command much less than half the aforementioned lower number. These values are based on a typical edition with around 3-4 or less of the 7 main first issue points. With 6 points it can be worth much more, and with all 7 can be worth a significant amount indeed if all of the plates are also in the first state as previously noted.
2. Oliver Twist (1838)
Oliver Twist is one of the more difficult first editions to acquire. Since it is one of Dickens' most beloved novels, it is highly desirable and subsequently one of the more expensive editions. It was released in book form in three volumes, and so if your copy is only in one volume then it's unlikely to be a first edition. However, it still could be a first edition. You could either have only one of the three volumes, or the three volumes could be bound together into one volume. If it's the first option, it will say which volume it is on the title page, reading somewhere 'Volume I', 'Volume II', or 'Volume III'. If it's the second option, then flick through the book and you'll notice three title pages throughout and that the page count restarts when each volume begins. It would also be quite a thick book. The first edition in one volume came not too long after the first edition in three volumes and is still a valuable book and has the potential to sell into the low hundred pounds, but not quite into the price territory of the first edition of course.
It is worth noting here that Oliver Twist is probably one of the most commonly encountered Dickens first editions in the original cloth.
The first impression contained an illustration which Dickens later had removed because he didn't like it. This is called the 'fireside plate' and will be opposite page 313 in volume three if your copy is a first impression. The publisher should be Richard Bentley and the date on the title page will say 1838. It was originally bound in brown cloth and there are a few variations of the original binding, all of which are in this brown cloth.
We recently sold a first edition third impression in the original cloth in G+/VG- condition for £600. The first impression in original cloth in very good condition could comfortably command £1,500 or more, and in fine condition of course significantly more.
3. Nicholas Nickleby (1839)
This is one of the most common Dickens first editions encountered and one of the easiest to acquire, though is scarce in the original cloth and correspondingly expensive. When rebound it's one of the lower priced first editions of Dickens and can generally be quite easily acquired for less than £200. Despite that, Dickens' biographer Peter Ackroyd says in his biography of Dickens that Nicholas Nickleby "has some title to being the funniest novel Dickens ever wrote; it is perhaps the funniest novel in the English language" (pp.262).
The first impression will need to have all of the following identification points to be a first impression. If any are missing it will be a later state. It's also worth mentioning that this was published with a half-title page and this is very commonly missing. It should also have a total of 40 illustrated plates (this number includes the frontispiece).
1) pp.18 illustrated plate with "London, Chapman & Hall, 186, Strand" written at the bottom
2) "latter" instead of "letter" on pp.160 line 43
3) "flys" instead of "flies" on pp.245 line 10
4) "visiters" instead of "visitors" on pp.272 line 2
5) "incontestible" instead of "incontestable" on pp.297 line 22
6) "suprise" instead of "surprise" on pp.586 line 24
The value of a typical first impression copy rebound in 19th century half calf tends to be around £150-£250, much higher if the plates and text block are very clean. Editions in the original cloth of Nicholas Nickleby can command prices into the low thousand pounds and if in particularly excellent condition can even reach £7,000-£8,000 territory which is amusing as this exceeds even the value in the original parts.
4. Master Humphrey's Clock (1840-41), The Old Curiosity Shop (1840-41), & Barnaby Rudge (1840-41)
The first editions of The Old Curiosity Shop and Barnaby Rudge first appeared in the three volume set called Master Humphrey's Clock which is a common set and fairly easy to find at an affordable price. The original cloth of Master Humphrey's Clock is very pretty in fine condition and generally fairly expensive, though cheap in poor condition. There aren't really any edition points to look out for in the three volume Master Humphrey's Clock set, though some exist. A first edition of this set is generally identified simply by the year on the title pages of 1840 to 1841. To help identify if all three volumes are there, the page count should end at 306 in the first volume, 306 in the second volume, and 426 in the third volume. This set is occasionally bound into two volumes and is very rarely in one volume.
The first separate edition of The Old Curiosity Shop was published in 1841 and will say "Complete in One Volume" on the title page and that it was printed in London. It's fairly scarce and probably more rare than the three volume Master Humphrey's Clock set. There was another printing in Philadelphia, USA in 1841 which is the first American edition.
The first separate edition of Barnaby Rudge was also published in 1841. It was the only printing of this book in this year in England and so the date of 1841 on the title page is sufficient to identify it as the first edition, along with it being published in London of course. There was another printing in Philadelphia, USA in 1841 which is the first American edition.
One doesn't encounter the first separate editions and first American editions too often and they certainly have value, especially in the original cloth bindings. One encounters first editions of Master Humphrey's Clock in the three volumes in a rebound state (i.e. bound in leather, usually) very commonly and we regularly sell these for £100-£200 in our eBay auctions, though have sold these for as much as £300 in particularly nice condition, and as low as £50 in a condition which leaves quite a bit to be desired. 'Cheap Editions' were released of these two a bit later circa 1849 and these generally do not have much value aside from being nice reading copies. We recently sold a first separate edition of Old Curiosity Shop for £350, though that was a very nice example, and a Barnaby Rudge for £175.
5. A Christmas Carol (1843)
A Christmas Carol is one of the most sought after and expensive Dickens first editions, especially in its first impression form in the original cloth binding. Even examples of this in poor condition are expensive. Fine examples in the original cloth can be worth as much as £50,000, but the more typical, better example in the original cloth sells for around £7,500-£20,000, with worse copies around half of this estimate, and particularly poor copies around half of this again. We have only sold one example in the first state. Our copy was rebound in quite a nice leather fine binding and we sold our copy for £5,000. These being rebound and not in the original cloth makes a big difference to the value.
A very significant number of editions quickly followed the first edition as this was a very popular book even when published (fourteen editions prior to 1860). All of these early fourteen editions are valuable books, especially in the original cloth. There is a wide market for A Christmas Carol printed prior to 1860. Editions after 1860 do not have too much value to collectors unless of a particular variety such as the Arthur Rackham signed deluxe edition which is worth a few thousand pounds. To be the first edition first issue and first state, the title page must have the date "1843", the title page must be printed in red and blue colouring, the title on page 1 should read 'Stave I' (I for Indigo instead of the number 1) and the endpapers (i.e. the blank pages at the front and back of the book) should be yellow in colour. There should be four colour illustrations throughout (including the frontispiece) and another four in black and white. The coloured illustrations are hand-coloured. There is some dispute among scholars of Dickens as to the true first state of A Christmas Carol's binding, with one eminent researcher suggesting that the second issue original cloth binding has 12-13mm between the closest points of blind-stamping and the gold wreath on the upper cover, and the 'D' in "Dickens" on the front board should not be broken (i.e. missing a bit of the letter). This is the most common form of the original cloth binding. The other, rarer form, has a minimum of 14mm between the blindstamped border and the gilt cartouche. If this meets the description of your book, congratulations, as this is one of the most collectible books of the Victorian period of English literature.
Please do bear in mind the prices quoted here tend to be retail prices, and at auction or selling to a book dealer it's likely to sell for less. One example of the first edition in very good condition in the original cloth sold for £8,287.50 at Bonhams in 2021, and if you consigned to this auction in this example the amount you would actually get from this sale would be closer to a little under £6,000.
It is definitely worth mentioning that there was an edition of A Christmas Carol printed by Bernard Tauchnitz in 1843 that almost certainly came before the Chapman and Hall edition of the 19th December 1843. This is almost always incorrectly described by booksellers, auctions, institutions, etc, as editions of this Tauchnitz version had the 1843 date on the title page as late as the 1860s! For the true first edition of the Tauchnitz edition, there must be 78 numbered pages, the publisher must be printed as precisely "Bernh. Tauchnitz Jun." at the foot of the title page and have a frontispiece entitled "Marley's Ghost", described on the title page as being a coloured etching (though it's really a lithograph). After meeting these requirements, there are two variants: Aa and Ab. The Aa (first state) finishes with "THE END" with the second state finishing "THE E ." with the letters "ND" missing. Precedence is given to state Aa as the "ND" of state Ab was accidentally dropped in reimpression from standing type. The most common error with attributing this very rare 'true' first edition of A Christmas Carol is that the 1846 reprint substituted "Copyright Edition" for "Edition Sanctioned By The Author" on the title page. The true first edition has the latter. Todd and Bowden in their bibliography of Dickens identified only one known example in state Aa now held at the British Library with three in state Ab. However, we sold a previously unknown example of state Aa in the original cloth - perhaps a one of a kind book with none others known to exist and hence one of the greatest rarities in Dickens collecting. This book is featured on our Gallery so do take a look at the description we wrote there and the photos if interested. We sold that copy in September 2023 for £5,000. Though the Tauchnitz edition is much rarer than the Chapman and Hall first edition, it's not as valuable. Rebound, it's generally worth less than £1,000 - but it does occasionally sell for a bit more.
6. Martin Chuzzlewit (1844)
This is one of the most commonly encountered Dickens first editions and can be regularly obtained at a reasonable price, though is quite rare and expensive in the original cloth binding and its variants. When rebound it's not particularly rare in the more common later state of the frontispiece (see below).
There are quite a lot of edition points for Martin Chuzzlewit, with some bibliographers of Dickens citing at least 40 identification points for the true first issue. For practical purposes, most people consider there to be just one authoritative first issue point which is that the sign on the frontispiece should read "100£" instead of "£100", misprinting the pound sign to be at the rear instead of as it ordinarily should be. It's fairly rare to find this 100£ state of this book. We would estimate that around 1 in 5 of the examples we have come across of the first edition of this book have the 100£ state and so it is certainly rarer than the later £100 state. The errata leaf should also have 14 lines instead of 13 and the end of the preface should be dated "twenty-fifth June 1844".
We have sold rebound copies in the later state for as cheap as £20 before as these can be worth very little in this form, especially if the condition is less than desirable. We have sold examples for as much as £500 even rebound however as that example was internally excellent as the illustrated plates in this book are almost always heavily oxidised and foxed. A very nice example in the original cloth can be worth around £3,000, but the majority are worth less than this.
7. The Battle of Life (1846)
The Battle of Life is the fourth book in Dickens Christmas Books series, following A Christmas Carol three years earlier (see above). This book is of particular interest to Dickens collectors due to the four variations in the first edition which are all dependent on the engraved title page. If your copy lacks the engraved title page it will have a significantly reduced value and be of much less interest to any collectors. Only one edition of this book was published in Dickens' lifetime (aka prior to 1870) and all four states were printed in 1846.
This book is quite commonly found in the original red cloth binding and so this doesn't add a huge amount of value like with A Christmas Carol. It is only usually encountered rebound with a complete rebound set of the five Christmas Books which was often done by fine binderies such as Bumpus, Bayntun, etc to externally defective copies. If your copy is rebound, check for binder stamps at the top or bottom of the first blank leaf (usually the reverse side), or at the base of the turn-in. If particularly finely bound this could make it still attractive to a collector.
The most common version of this is the last; the fourth state. The fourth state in very good condition in the original cloth might be worth a maximum of around £200, if fine then a bit more. One can regularly find the fourth state in original cloth of this first edition in more typical condition for £100-£150.
- First state: the engraved title page reads "A love story" without a banner and with the publisher information at the bottom. This is the rarest and most desirable version and is generally at least £1,000.
- Second state: the engraved title page reads "A love story" with a banner and without the cupid with the publisher information at the bottom. Still highly desirable and quite scarce.
- Third state: *
- Fourth state: the engraved title page reads "A love story" inside a banner held by a cupid without any publisher information at the bottom.
*we haven't yet encountered a third state of this and this will be updated once we have.
8. Dombey and Son (1848)
Dombey and Son is a commonly encountered Dickens first edition, though like most, is scarce and subsequently expensive in the original cloth binding, particularly the rarer variants. In typical condition, rebound in typical half leather over marbled boards it tends to be worth around £150-£250. We have sold superior rebound examples of this first edition for up to £600 before. This is mostly contingent on an acceptable exterior and an excellent condition of the text block and illustrated plates which are usually heavily toned and oxidised due to the type of paper used to produce these.
There are a few edition points required for a first impression, the most important of which being numbers 3 and 4.
1) The frontispiece does not have a page number
2) No quotation marks for "The Party" on pp.xv line 2
3) "shewed" and "shew" instead of "showed" and show" on pp.40 lines 16 and 17
4) "delight" instead of "joy" on pp.284, 5th and 6th lines from the bottom
5) "Capatin" instead of "Captain" on the final line of pp.324.
9. David Copperfield (1850)
The first edition of David Copperfield is relatively common, but remains highly desirable as it is one of Dickens' most famous works. Very good examples in the original cloth can get in to the very low thousand pounds territory, but typical rebound examples are generally worth between £150 and £500, with more superior examples going a bit higher. We have sold a superior rebound example for £850 before but that was a particularly remarkable example due to both the excellent condition of the binding and the text block/plates. A fine example in the original cloth might be able to fetch up to £10,000. [see Sotheby's Sept 24 2019 lot 146].
The first impression identification points include:
1) The engraved (vignette) title page should have a date of 1850 at the bottom
2) Originally bound with 8pp of publisher's advertisements
3) 4 page contents and 6 line errata
4) "screamed" instead of "screwed" on pp.132 line 19
5) The final 'i' on pp.viii is slightly misaligned
6) "coroboration" is misspelt thus 6 lines from the bottom on pp.387.
It's worth mentioning that if the book is rebound it's common for the leaves to be trimmed and therefore cut off the bottom of the vignette title page and where the date would be as it is quite low down. The 1850 date is not technically required for this book to be a first impression, this just represents the earliest form of the vignette title page. The publisher's advertisements in point (2) are almost always missing. Point (4) is really the deciding factor for if an example is the first impression or not.
10. Bleak House (1853)
The first edition of Bleak House is commonly encountered but still highly desirable. We have encountered a significant number of examples in both the original cloth and rebound in various bindings. The most common form is rebound in half calf leather over marbled boards. Most of these bindings date from near the time of publication and most are before around 1880. Almost all copies of the first edition of Bleak House sell for below £1,000, even in very good condition in the original cloth. We have sold copies for as low as £80 and as high as a little over £1,000, with the typical being around £300-£400.
The edition points required for the first impression of the first edition are fairly definitive and nobody really contests these. Every copy of the first edition we have ever encountered has been the first impression. The edition points are as follows:
1) "elgble" misspelling for "eligible" on pp.19 line 6
2) "chair" misspelling for "hair" on pp.209 line 23
3) "counsinship" misspelling for "cousinship" on pp.275 line 22
There are also two issues present in only a few of the first impression copies, namely pp.230 with the "2" in the page number complete and "received" on pp.620 line 24.
11. Little Dorrit (1857)
The first edition of Little Dorrit is commonly encountered. First editions will be bound from the original parts and therefore one will find 'stab holes' to the inner margins on most pages. There should be a frontispiece, engraved title page, additional title page, 14 preliminary pages numbered i-xiv, and 625 numbered pages.
The edition points are as follows:
1) 3 line errata on pp.xiv
2) "William" misprinted for "Fredeich" on pp.317 line 27
3) Signature 2B2 will be erroneously printed as B2 on pp.371
4) "Rigaud" misprinted for "Bland" on pp.469; 470; 472; 473
5) 40 engraved plates by Phiz including the eight "dark plates"
All of these points are required for your copy to be a first impression of the first edition. Points (2) and (4) are those most commonly lacking, with first impressions of this book being a bit more scarce than some of Dickens other works when compared with the general population of the first edition form as a whole.
We tend to sell this book for around £150-£200 but have sold particularly excellent (rebound) examples for as much as £750 before. We sold a particularly nice example in the original cloth for £2,000 near the end of 2022.
12. A Tale of Two Cities (1859)
A Tale of Two Cities is Dickens best selling novel and one of the best selling novels of all time. Consequently, the first edition is a valuable book. There are many different varieties of the first edition with the first impression being very scarce indeed, especially in its original binding. There is significant variation in the price of the various editions with the first impression of course being the most expensive. In original cloth, the first impression is generally worth upwards of £5,000 in very good condition and can be worth up to £20,000 in particularly remarkable condition. When rebound, it's generally worth much less and one can regularly find it for £1,500-£2,000, though in better condition or in a particularly nice binding it can fetch much more. Once one reaches the later issues, even in the original cloth in very good condition, they're no longer worth a significant amount. A very nice example of the third issue in the original cloth sold for as low as £500 at auction in 2022, though that appears to have underperformed its potential as this was lower than its low estimate.
The main first issue identification point for A Tale of Two Cities is page 213 being mispaginated as 113. The first edition was issued with a half title page, a frontispiece, and two title pages (one engraved, one standard). The half title page is commonly missing. There was also a rather large 32 page catalogue bound in at the rear which should be dated November 1839, though this is also commonly missing and is almost never found in rebound copies.
The other first issue points include:
1) "affetcionately" misspelt on pp.134 line 12
2) pp.213 mispaginated as 113
3) pp.238 line 14 accidentally prints three closing quotation marks.
13. Great Expectations (1861)
The first edition of Great Expectations is the one first edition we have yet to acquire and is very rare - the rarest of all Dickens first editions. It is the most expensive Dickens first edition, with the exception of some of the bibliographically remarkable copies such as the true first edition of the Pickwick Papers or the various presentation copies of the books which were published which are very expensive indeed.
Though technically the first edition appeared in volumes four and five of the weekly literary journal "All the Year Round", the valuable form of the first edition is the three volume edition published by Chapman and Hall on the 6th of July 1861. Unlike the majority of other Dickens first editions, the authoritative accepted view of the impressions of this first edition wasn't established until Margaret Cardwell's 1993 bibliography where five separate impressions can be identified. Only 1,000 copies were printed and most of these went to libraries and were therefore read a lot and so the first issue is very rarely found in acceptable condition.
As we have not encountered any examples of this first edition we would refer anybody who believes they have encountered an example of this first edition to Margaret Caldwell's 1993 bibliography in Appendix D to the Clarendon Edition.
It is worth noting that the second impression tends to sell for at least £20,000 in a retail setting in the original cloth. The very rare first impression in original cloth tends to be at least £40,000 and even rebound is not far from this. A fine copy in the original cloth could quite easily command over £100,000.
14. Our Mutual Friend (1865)
The first edition of Our Mutual Friend, though an absolutely phenomenal read, is very commonly encountered for sale and we alone have sold perhaps 50 copies in the past two years. However, there are some very rare examples of it which even most Dickens collectors are unaware of.
Every single copy we have come across has been a first impression of the first edition. This is identified by the misspelling on page 115 of volume two of "pricipal" instead of "principal". In book form, this first edition was originally published in two volumes though is less frequently encountered bound together as one volume. The rarest form of this book is the first edition in the original cloth complete with the errata slip to the verso of pp.1. in volume one. We have encountered only one example with the errata slip still present and this was an example in the original cloth. A rebound copy is incredibly unlikely to have retained this as it would practically always be discarded in the rebinding process. You might see some residue in the inner margin of where this used to be if you look very closely in some copies. This slip is commonly found in the original parts, but in book form is very rare indeed.
We have sold first edition first impression examples of Our Mutual Friend for as low as £30. The more common rebound example tends to be around £150-£200. The text block and illustrated plates in this book tend to be a bit better than the earlier Dickens novels but still often suffer the same issues with oxidation, heavy toning, and foxing. We sold the previously mentioned copy in the original binding with the errata slip for £1,000.
15. The Mystery of Edwin Drood (1870)
The Mystery of Edwin Drood was Dickens final novel and notably incomplete as he died before resolving the mystery. This is commonly encountered in the six original parts relatively inexpensively compared to the usual prices for original parts. The first edition was released in a very nice green cloth binding for which there are a few different states. We have previously sold a near fine example in the original green cloth (Carter's first state binding) for £800.
The earliness of the editions of this book are generally determined by the variants in the original cloth binding. If it has been rebound then one can only really advertise it as a first edition without mention to the impression or state. The original parts of this tend to sell for around £300-£500 but can achieve more in nice condition, or much less in poor condition, sometimes as low as £100. [see Dominic Winter 5th Apr 2023 lot 331].
Written 16/10/2023 by Harry at WoodPaz Books Ltd.