THE PRIME MINISTER by Trollope, Anthony - 1876

1876. [preceding the 4-vol. UK edition?] A Novel. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1876. 4 pp preliminary undated ads, plus 4+8 pp terminal ads headed "April Book-List." Original very light brown decorative wrappers (with the date "April 1876" on the rear wrapper). First Edition (likely preceding the four-volume English edition, but sharing the spotlight with an edition by Porter & Coates of Philadelphia, as both American editions were published at noon on May 17, 1876). With the serial format dying (following the death of its champion Dickens in mid-1870), Chapman & Hall experimented with issuing THE PRIME MINISTER in eight monthly five-shilling parts from Nov 1875 through June 1876; they then published it in four cloth-bound volumes -- in "May 1876" according to Sadleir, but "on June 12th, 1876" according to Smith. Curiously, Porter & Coates paid Harper 175 pounds for advance sheets and the right to publish simultaneously -- which they did. P&C came out with copies in paper wrappers at 75 cents, in cloth at $1.25, and in fancier cloth at $1.50. Harper issued the novel only in wrappers (as here), and at a price lower than usual -- due undoubtedly to its unusual arrangement with P&C; Harper's price would go even lower, as later copies were bound up in light green wrappers priced at 60 cents. This copy is exactly as described by Smith (as it should be: it bears his penciled signature on the first interior leaf). Condition is very good-plus, moderately soiled but with relatively little wear for such a fragile, thick volume (252 pages of text): there is minor edge-wear including a fore-corner bearing a little cellotape on the inside, and the printed spine, though having a narrow vertical crack, is complete except for just 1/3-inch at each end. We have never before had this Harper edition in wrappers.