American Notes for General Circulation.

New York: J. Winchester; Wilson & Company,, 1842. American piracies of American Notes Both the first and second US editions, the former achieving this status by beating the latter's publication time by two hours. Both copies are from the collection of Dickens's bibliographer Walter Smith, and are photographed in his bibliography (pp. 12 & 16). The work was first published in the UK on 19 October 1842. Both of these editions call themselves the "First American Edition". The J. Winchester edition was confirmed as the true first in 1975 in an article by Peter Bracher (Bibliographical Society of America, vol. 69, pp. 365-376) and this was re-affirmed by Walter Smith. The J. Winchester edition was published at 2 PM on 7 November 1842, the "Brother Jonathan Edition" of Wilson & Company was published at 4 PM. The next day, Harper published another edition, and the day following that, Lea & Blanchard published an edition. All four publishers raced to press with the arrival of the first copies of the UK edition by boat. J. Winchester published a second impression soon after - the first impression as here has "number 32,23" printed incorrectly in the heading. Wilson & Company also printed a second impression, most readily distinguished by the rear wrapper illustration "Riots in Ireland" - this is an example of the second impression. American Notes detailed Dickens's thoughts on America following his 1842 visit, and proved his most controversial book. Although complimentary of the United States in many ways, Dickens antagonized much of his American readership by his criticisms of the penal system and the entire system of slavery. However, perhaps his most strident attack targets the lack of copyright and subsequent pirating of English works. The fact that four publishers produced four piracies of the work in three days aptly proved his point. 2 copies, folio. Original wrappers. Housed together in custom blue quarter morocco box. Recent bookplate of collector Peter Russell mounted to inside cover of box, first edition with contemporary ownership signature at head, second edition with contemporary bookseller's stamp to front wrapper. Wrappers worn, a little soiled, still very good copies of these fragile publications. Smith, Charles Dickens: A Bibliography of His First American Editions: The Christmas Books and Secondary Works, pp. 11-17.