The Library of Stephen J. Farber

Small 8vo. Original wrappers printed in blue and red, date on upper wrapper altered from 1885 to 1886 in pen, as often (spine significantly worn with losses resulting in front wrap partially detached, contemporary review pasted to inner front wrap); folding chemise and slipcase. Provenance: Dr. Frederick Arnold Lees (1847-1921), English botanist (ownership stamp on front cover).

FIRST ENGLISH EDITION, FIRST ISSUE with date on front cover hand-altered as called for. The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde was, according to Stevenson's stepson Lloyd Osbourne, written in a frenzy of inspiration. Upon reading his wife's criticisms that the story he wrote was more of an allegory than a story, Stevenson burned the first draft, thus forcing him to start from scratch. The story was rewritten in less than a week.

The printed date on the upper cover is 1885, with the intended date of publication December of that year, "but when it was ready the bookstalls were already full of Christmas numbers, etc, and the trade would not look at it..." (the publisher Charles Longman, quoted by Prideaux, p.44). Publication was therefore delayed until January 1886, with the American Scribner edition coming out a few days later. Many of the covers were altered by hand to 1886, as with the present copy. There is some controversy around publication of the first edition, as Scribner's published the American edition four days before Longman's issued their own in both cloth and wraps; the wrappers issue precedes the cloth. McKay 349; Prideaux 17a. A Haycraft-Queen Cornerstone.