London: Chapman and Hall, 1861. In three volumes. Second Edition (i.e. first edition, second issue; with preponderance of internal flaws as per Smith). 8vo. Without half-titles or ads. Publisher's purple cloth-covered boards, decorated in blind and in gilt, each volume cocked, spines faded, boards and extremities rubbed, lightly worn, and soiled; all edges trimmed; ownership signature on front free endpaper in each volume; front and rear hinges of each volume split or starting; scattered splitting in gutters; soiling to text; yellow slip mounted on rear paste-down of third volume ("Recent Works of Fiction in Circulation at Mudie's Select Library"). Smith I, 14; Rosenberg, A Preface to Great Expectations, in Dickens Studies Annual, Vol. 2 (1972), note 13, p. 376

Edgar Rosenberg notes regarding the "editions" of this work: "The edition of 6 July was followed by editions on
5 August, 17 August, 21 September and
30 October. But the issuance of separate 'editions' may have been a promotional stunt: a collation of the first five issues suggests that these were all printed at a single impression and published by Chapman & Hall in the succeeding months with misleading title-pages, proclaiming them to be new editions in order to imply (and encourage) a rapid sale, i.e., Chapman may have deliberately overprinted the first edition but in view of the dubious market potential kept the publication of the early 'editions' fairly small, supplying new bindings-up as the need for new issues arose." Only 1,000 copies of the first issue and 750 of the second were printed, with most of these copies going to Mudie's (as in the case of the above example) and other circulating libraries, accounting for the scarcity of copies in good condition.