The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling. In Six Volumes...

Bookseller Notes

Fielding's masterpiece, widely regarded as the greatest English novel of the eighteenth century.The question of cancelled leaves in this novel has exercised bibliographers for decades, but Hugh Amory's article in Harvard Library Bulletin (Volume 25, 1977) confirms that the cancellans usually number twenty-four (twelve single leaves plus the whole of signature O in volume three). The numerous errors which occurred in the text are a result of its hasty printing; demand for the novel forced publisher and author into print before they were properly ready. The fact that volume six, which contains some of the most glaring errors, is not included in the errata suggests that not only was Millar unable to bind fast enough to keep up with demand, but also that he did not wait for either proof readers or Fielding to read the last volume.The entire first edition of 2,000 copies was immediately bought up by the London trade, necessitating a second edition very quickly. Both Cross and Jensen support the view that the second edition was in hand at about the same time as the sixth volume of the first edition went to press. The latter goes further and suggests that the second edition may even have been printed before publication of the first. The most obvious difference is that the errata leaf in volume one is omitted and the re-spaced Contents extends into the page which it formerly occupied. Cross concludes that 'Tom Jones, as the novel [first] appeared in February, is a most rare book.'