Description
The first English edition of Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson, in the publisher’s original wraps.
Octavo, [viii], 141pp, [1], [1pp ads]. This is the wrapper issue, on tan paper printed in blue and red ink. The front cover features the publisher’s imprint, the publication date of “1885” hand-corrected to “1886” in ink, and “Price One Shilling” along the bottom. The rear cover includes advertisements for Whyte Melville on the recto and Bret Harte on the verso. Solid text block, light toning to wrappers, internally clean and legible. Includes correct first issue advertisement pages, with a list of books by Stevenson at front and an ad for the second edition of “A Child’s Garden of Verses” at rear.
(Beinecke 349) (Gertsley 30A) (McKay 348) (Prideaux 17)
Full text and wraps finely bound in full green morocco, with light sunning and a few scuff marks. Stevenson’s initials stamped in gilt and red morocco on covers. Five raised bands, title in gilt over red morocco label on spine. Top edge gilt, gilt turn-ins, and marbled endpapers. “Bound by Zaehnsdorf” stamp on verso of front endpaper. A well-presenting copy of a classic Gothic mystery.
This first English edition, published in 1886, was simultaneously released in light tan wrappers (seen here) and a salmon-colored cloth hardcover. The book was originally intended for release in December 1885, “but when it was ready the bookstalls were already full of Christmas numbers, etc., and the trade would not look at it.” (Longman, Balfour’s Life, ii. 14) The publication date was changed to January 9, 1886, and all printings with “1885” listed were changed to “1886” by hand. The first American edition, published by Charles Scribner’s Sons, was released four days earlier on January 5, 1886. (McKay 346)
