THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD, and Some Uncollected Pieces

1870. With Illustrations. Boston: Fields, Osgood, & Co., 1870. Original green cloth.

First American Edition, second and usual issue with added material -- of the tale left unfinished at the time of Dickens's death in June 1870. The scarce earlier issue, withOUT the "Uncollected Pieces," was bound only in wrappers; furthermore, the subsequent additions are just that -- the text of DROOD is exactly the same in both issues. This has led some bibliographers to speculate that the two issues may be from the same printing, with only a change in the title page: Smith, noting that he could not find a publication date for the first issue, says "Perhaps such copies represent a prepublication state rather than an issue and were published simultaneously with copies which had the uncollected pieces...". The "Uncollected Pieces" consist of James T. Fields's introductory "Some Memories of Charles Dickens," plus Dickens's "George Silverman's Explanation," "Holiday Romance," "Sketches of Young Couples," and "New Uncommercial Samples," plus "The Will of Charles Dickens." Since 1867, Ticknor & Fields (and then Fields Osgood) had been Dickens's authorized publisher in America; they had serialized DROOD in their weekly Every Saturday, and then published this book in early September. (Ticknor & Fields had specifically commissioned Dickens to write "Holiday Romance," so that it could appear in their children's periodical Our Young Folks in 1868.) Harper also serialized DROOD in a monthly Dickens supplement to Harper's Weekly, but did not get their book edition out until late September. This copy is in the primary binding state -- 9-7/16 inches tall, with the FO&Co emblem on the covers and at the foot of the spine -- and it is green (one of three colors without priority). The volume is in near-fine condition (very minor wear at the spine ends). Smith pp 412-416; Podeschi (Yale) A156; Carr (UTexas) B278; Wilkins p. 35.