Three Men In a Boat 1st Edition - red covers?

[lorence]

Bit of a puzzle this one, is this copy of mine a first edition?

Dark red cloth boards, no picture of the boat on the front, but title in gilt on the spine.

Publishers Address as follows:
BRISTOL
J.W. ARROWSMITH, QUAY STREET
LONDON
SIMPKIN, MARSHALL & CO., 4 STATIONERS' HALL COURT

Dated on title page 1889

No adverts in the front, and one page of adverts in the back for:-
Arrowsmith's Bristol Library.
Fcap. 8vo, stiff covers, 1/-; cloth, 1/6.

The adverts show 37 books, ending with Jaques Bonhomme.
There is no mention of Prince Prigio.

There you have it.

Perhaps there were two first editions, one printed in Bristol and one in London, to add to the mystery this looks like an ex-library copy - was there a cheaper print run done for libraries at the same time?

Sadly the covers are not in good condition, so I shall get it rebound, because as the Saturday Review says - Arrowsmith's Bristol Library is "as necessary to the traveller as a rug in winter and a dust-coat in summer"

Also - where can I get a dust-coat?

[sean wiles]

whoo! sounds great, even if its not a first, its certainly unusual. maybe Jeremy, our respected leader knows?
sorry, I know Im no help, but I just couldn't help commenting!



oh, I have a rug.........

[Simon]

It might well be a first edition, which has been re-backed at a later date. There were numerous reprints of the first edition until about 1909. The lack of the street number on the title page suggests it is a first issue; however there should also be adverts on the  front fixed endpaper with  a heading reading J W Arrowsmith, Bristol.

It's was  - and is  - quite common for collectors and owners to re-cover first editions when the boards are damaged.

In 1909 a special limited copy of a first issue was published - although I've only ever seen the one I've got - and  superficially it does look identical to a first issue. The reprint isn't the same quality, though, and wouldn't fool anybody who could handle both books at the same time.

[Frank]

Hello, Lorence!

Jeremy Nicholas forwarded your message to me, asking me to comment.  But I have had trouble replying to him; I keep getting a message saying his mailbox is full.  So I thought I had better sign up on the forum and reply directly to you.

I have been collecting JKJ for many years, and have seen examples of almost everything that exists.  

I'm pretty sure that what you have is a rebound copy, and that the endpaper adverts were eliminated in binding.  The Prince Prigio "ready in October" advert was on the back pastedown. The Quay Street address on the title page identifies your copy as an early issue.  There was no London printing, in fact at the bottom of the last page of the text (p.315) it states "PRINTING OFFICE OF THE PUBLISHER"

The original blue-green binding is lettered in black on the front, with a silhouette of the three men in a boat near the bottom, all surrounded by a heavy black frame.  The spine is gilt lettered, with title, author and publisher's device (the same design as on the title page).

There are at least three states of the first issue with the "Quay Street" address on the title page.  I can tell you the status of your copy if you can look at it and answer a couple of questions:

1.  On p. 271 the last word should be "stream," but it is missing in the early issues.  Is it missing in your copy?

2.  Look at the ornamental initial "I" on pages 77 and 95.  They show a beast which, for lack of a better notion, I would call a dragon.  Is its head pointing up or down?  (You can compare the same initials on pages 164 and 181).

[lorence]

Thank you all for your replies.

Frank in response to your questions:-
1: Stream is missing on page 271
2: The head of the Dragon/Phoenix? is pointing down.

Simon
Did the 1909 reprint have all the first issue points that are outlined in Frank's post?

Sean
I have decided to pass up the dust-coat in favour of a fine umbrella. This will be far more suitable for the large amount of rain that continues to descend on Hong Kong. We shall soon be boating to work, cooking up breakfast and fighting to find the elusive shaving tackle....

[Simon]

Lorence,

The word "stream" is present at the bottom of page 271 in the reprint.  The head of the creature is pointed down.

However - I'm not sure I'd trust the issue of the ornamental capitals.  If you have an edition without the "11" and it isn't a 1909 reprint, you've probably got a UK first issue, even if it has been re-backed.

[Frank]

Frank back again...

The issue of the inverted ornamental initials was first raised by Geoffrey Henderson in an article in Antiquarian Book, November 1978, entitled "Three Men in a Boat - the first issue?"  Although he poses his title as a question, he makes a fairly convincing pitch.  What most convinces me, however, is that in all my years of looking at copies of this edition, I have only ever seen two with the inverted initials.  One was Jerome's own copy, which is now in the Bodleian Library; the other is the British Library's copyright deposit copy, with accession date of 23 September 1889.  Both must have been among the first copies off the press.

So I think it probable that you can define at least three states of the "Quay Street" version.  The first has the two inverted initials, and also the ads on the front pastedown are headed "J.W. ARROWSMITH."  the word "stream" is missing on p. 271, and the rear pastedown lists "Prince Prigio" as "ready in October."

The next version has the front ads headed "11 QUAY STREET" and the inverted initials are corrected.

In the third version, the printer notices the missing word on p. 271 and inserts it (it is badly aligned, however).

The change to "11 Quay Street" certainly occurred before the end of 1889, and possibly as early as October.

All these changes must have occurred within weeks, if not days, of the initial publication.  You must remember that, in those days, publishers would issue quite small first printings. Once they knew they had a success on their hands, it was easy enough for them to pull out the plates and print more - making changes if necessary.

So, to summarize, I would consider Lorence's copy as being the second state of the "Quay Street" printings.  Of course, its monetary value is diminished by the rebinding and the loss of the ads.

As a comment on publishing practices of the time, I think it is odd that Arrowsmith keeps the 1889 date on the title page of the 1909, even though the next leaf has the Publisher's Advertisement dated 1909.

[jesthepres]

Fascinating stuff, Frank, here and elsewhere. Thank you.  (Sorry you had trouble replying directly - my email is still out of action for some reason.) The theory of the red cover sounds plausible, though there is a copy of exactly the same description (i.e. 'Dark red cloth boards, no picture of the boat on the front, but title in gilt on the spine) for sale at present on abebooks.com

[lorence]

Frank, thank you for your detailed and very helpful analysis. I'm sure it will help others as well.

I will now get the book re-bound as the boards are dammaged and the endpapers also by library cards.

I had a response this morning from H. Charlier of Belgium who is selling another copy with red boards on Abe (reliure rigide en percaline rouge avec titres en dorure), with regard to the same questions:-

1. The last word on pg. 271 is well ' stream '.
2. The adress doesn't include ' 11 '.
3. The dragon head on the left is pointing up and on the right down.

All the best.......

[Frank]

Lorence, I don't understand your third point.  In the ornamental initial 'I' there are dragon heads at each side of the ornament.  Either they are both pointing up or they are both pointing down.

Frank

[lorence]

Frank, I will go back to H. Charlier and ask him for some clarification on his answer.

[Frank]

Since the correspondence last August on the variations in early issues of "Three Men in a Boat," two other members of the Society have joined me in a fairly extensive study of the subject.  We have compared many copies of the book and, as a result, I now need to alter one of my earlier opinions: the word "stream" on p.271 is present in the first issue, and was dropped subsequently (but while the title-page address was still "Quay Street."  It was restored when the title-page address changed to "11 Quay Street."

We shall be submitting an article on our findings to the next issue of "Idle Thoughts."

[whiteballed]

Hi All,

I've read all these posts with great interest. If Frank is out there reading this I'd appreciate his, any anyone elses,  help...


http://jeromekjerome.com/forum/viewtopic.php?p=561#561