Listing the Scott Library pp [1-6]; Great Writers pp [7-10], The Contemporary Science Series pp [11-13], Books at 3/6 p [14], New England Library p [15], and Library of Humor p [16].

endpapers maroon where facing;
all edges trimmed, top edges gilt;
bound in dark green cloth, back and front covers plain,
spine gilt lettered

ESTHER

WATERS

A NOVEL

GEORGE MOORE

WALTER SCOTT

Early drafts of chapters XX-XXIII, XXV-XXVII, and XXIX, were serialized in eleven installments under the title of “Passages from the Life of a Workgirl” in the Pall Mall Gazette: 2-4 October 1893, 6-7 October 1893, and 9-14 October 1893. The serialization starts with the Bingleys after Esther has met William, been seduced, and is pregnant. Differences between the serialization and first edition were surveyed by Jay Jernigan in “The Forgotten Serial Version of George Moore’s Esther Waters,” Nineteenth -Century Fiction, June 1968.

In May 1894 a second impression, advertised as the “Second Edition,” was issued. This and subsequent impressions have the front cover lettered in gilt at the top

ESTHER WATERS

A NOVEL

GEORGE MOORE

and a spray of flowers in the lower left corner.

The “second issue” noted by Percy Muir in Points 1874-1930 is actually this second impression, and it should be noted that the advertisements correctly cited by him for the “first issue” are also found in some copies of the second impression.

Copies of the second and subsequent impressions have endpapers where facing in various tones of dark blue.

Proofs of the Scott first edition were submitted to and rejected by Harper's, Scribner’s, and Appleton’s for American publication. In June 1894, following the success of Esther Waters in England, copies of the second impression were imported for distribution in the United States and these can be distinguished by the rubber stamping, “Printed in Great Britain,” on verso of title leaf.

Three American editions were reproduced from sheets of the first edition. [one (A19-a2),

contemporary with it, was duplicated by some early “piano-graphic” process; and the others (A19-a3, and A19-a4 below) were reproduced many years later by photo-offset]:

A19-a2 Sergel edition

Charles H. Sergel Company, Chicago, May or June 1894, duplicated by some photolithographic process, issued in cloth and also, according to contemporary advertisements, in wrappers, but no wrappered copy has been located.

This edition was noted in Lucy Monroe’s “Chicago Letter” in the Critic, 23 June 1894, and reviewed in Literary World (Boston), 30 June 1894. Both call it an “authorized edition,” a doubtful statement, but one which may have been printed on the dust jacket or on the cover of (unseen) wrappered copies.

A19-a3 Norton Library

Norton Library, No. 6, W. W. Norton & Company, Inc., New York, 1958, reproduced by photo-offset for a padded, paperbound edition with an ’’Introduction” by Malcolm Brown and a short biographical sketch of GM, with his picture, on the back cover.

A19-a4 Pandora Books

Pandora Books, Academy Press Limited, Chicago, 1977, with an “Introduction” and “Bibliographical Notes” by Helmut Gerber, issued in both wrappers and cloth; reissued in larger format 1979. The first edition text also was used for:

A19-2a English Library

English Library, two volumes. Nos. 198 and 199, Heinemann and Balestier, Leipzig, 1894; a “Copyright Edition,” similar in format to the Tauchnitz volumes, issued for continental circulation.

A19-3a, A19-4a, and A19-5a unauthorized editions

In the United States the loss of copyright, due to there being no authorized American printing, simultaneous with the English first edition, coupled with the book’s success in England, brought the pirate publishers swarming in. Within a short time there were more than twenty reprints on the market.

In addition to the Sergel edition (A19-a2), there were printings from three distinct settings of type with no positive priority established.

350 pages of text including

an issue in The Melburne Series, No. 23, E. A. Weeks & Company, Chicago, May 1894;
a volume published by The Henneberry Company, Chicago, n.d.

328 pages of text including issues in

Hurst’s Library, No. 7, 25 June 1894;
Munro’s Library of Popular Novels, No. 2, 7 July 1894;
Ogilvie’s Peerless Series, No. 79, July 1894.

322 pages of text including issues in

Abbey Series, No. 53, W. B. Conkey Company, Chicago, n.d.;
same. No. 123, Homewood Publishing Company, Chicago, n.d.;
Rosebud Edition, Optimus Printing Company, New York, n.d.;
Souvenir Edition, No. 10, Optimus, n.d.;
Paragon Library, No. 2, Optimus (an advertisement for this edition describes Esther Waters as the Uncle Tom’s Cabin of the white slaves of London);
Non series impressions issued by

Henry Altemus, Philadelphia, 1895;
Hurst; Conkey (differing from Abbey Series above) circa 1901 or later as Sister Theresa [sic] is listed on the title page.

Plates of these three settings were used for several years by a number of publishers who issued impressions in numerous bindings, both cloth and wrappers, and at various prices.

In addition to the various impressions noted specifically with 350, 328, or 322 pages of text, references have been noted of additional printings, with no indication of the number of pages, including further impressions published by Hurst, and by Optimus, as well as those issued by Nobel; Hill; Stein, 1899; and Donahue, 1904.

A19-b Second English edition, revised

Title Page

ESTHER WATERS

A NOVEL.

GEORGE MOORE

LONDON:

WALTER SCOTT, LIMITED

PATERNOSTER SQUARE.

1899.

Launch

Published May 1899 at -/6 in an edition of 10,000 copies

Description

Height: 8 5/8 in; 8.63 in; 21.91 cm

Width: 5 1/2 in; 5.5 in; 13.97 cm

A-F16; pp 182, x, comprising:

page of commercial advertisements, with a list of nine books “By the same Author.” within single-rule box on verso, pp [1-2];
title page, verso blank;
pp [3-4];
dedication as in first edition (A19-a) except all in caps, verso blank, pp [5-6];
PREFACE., verso blank, pp [7-8];
text, two columns to the page, pp [9]-182, with

WALTER SCOTT PRESS, NEWCASTLE-UPON-TYNE

at foot of p 182;

publisher’s advertisements pp i-x;
no endpapers;
wire stapled;
issued in tannish-beige wrappers, with commercial advertisements pp [2-4];
lettered in brown on front cover

PRICE SIXPENCE. [underlined with rule]

Esther Waters

A NOVEL

GEORGE MOORE [triangular printer's ornament]

London:

WALTER SCOTT, LIMITED,

PATERNOSTER SQUARE.

all within triple-rule border, heavy rule with fine on each side

and lettered down the spine in brown

ESTHER WATERS. GEORGE MOORE.

The text is revised and in part rewritten, the revisions being for the most part omission of passages, including much of chapter XXXIV, with only a few sentences added. In the “Preface,” which is completely new, GM says, “The text of the original edition of Esther Waters was achieved largely on the proof-sheets… and on reading my book its general proportions, its architecture, seemed to me superior to the mere writing… and it has been love’s labour to try to finish what I had left unfinished.” For a detailed account of the revisions see Appendix I of the edition edited by Lionel Stevenson (A10-3b).

A19-2b First authorized American edition

Title Page

Esther Waters

A NOVEL

GEORGE MOORE

REVISED AND ENLARGED EDITION

publisher's device in red

HERBERT S. STONE AND COMPANY

CHICAGO AND NEW YORK

MDCCCXCIX

all within double-rule border

Launch

Published 9 December 1899 at $1.50 according to Sidney Kramer in the historical portion of A History of Stone & Kimball and Herbert S. Stone & Co., With a Bibliography of Their Publications, University of Chicago Press, 1940. He says of this edition, “publication was delayed from April 10th [1899], when 192 pages were deposited for copyright by Stone in the Library of Congress, until December 9, 1899, when the complete work was entered in the ‘Weekly Record of New Publications’ of Publisher’s Weekly.” In the bibliographical section, however, he states, “...published sometime in 1899; advertised as ‘Ready May 12 [1899]’ in Publisher’s Weekly.” Mr. Kramer also says, in the historical section, “When a cheap edition of Esther Waters… was called for in England in 1899, Moore rewrote large sections… [and] in sending proofs of the new English edition (published in May 1896 [sic] by Walter Scott) to America, Moore rewrote again” – a statement not borne out by a comparison of the two texts. The binding is pictured in Fig. 31 of the Kramer book.

Description

Height: 7 1/2 in; 7.5 in; 19.05 cm

Width: 4 3/4 in; 4.75 in; 12.07 cm

[1]4, [2]2 (tipped in), [3]1 (tipped in), [4-35]8: pp [4], x, 512, comprising:

two blank leaves, not paginated; half title, verso blank, pp [i-ii];
title page, with

HERBERT S. STONE & CO

in center of upper half of verso, pp [iii-iv];

PREFACE pp v-ix;
p [x] blank;
text pp 1-508;

PRINTED BY R. R. DONNELLEY

AND SONS COMPANY AT THE

LAKESIDE PRESS, CHICAGO, ILL.

in center of p [509];

pp [510-12] blank;
white endpapers;
top edges trimmed and gilt, fore and bottom edges untrimmed;
bound in dark blue cloth, flat spine, back and front covers silver stamped

ESTHER WATERS

by [tail of y circles around b] GEORGE MOORE

two printer's fleurets

single fleuret

all within single-rule border

And spine silver stamped

ESTHER

WATERS

by [as on covers]

GEORGE

MOORE

Stone

Chicago

with rule at top and bottom of spine

Text same as revised English edition (A19-b) with “Preface” enlarged. In 1901 a second impression was issued, in slightly smaller format, all edges trimmed, bound in bright red cloth, back cover plain, ornamental border and center design stamped in green on front cover, spine lettered in green as in first impression, but without rules at top and bottom. In March 1906 the booklist and plates of Herbert S. Stone and Company, including Esther Waters, were sold to a New York firm which issued a new impression in a format similar to the original Stone edition:

A19-2b2 Duffield edition

Duffield and Company, New York, July 1906; reprinted 1913. These Stone-Duffield plates again were used for:

A19-2b3 Brentano Uniform Edition

Brentano Uniform Edition, New York, 1917, which was replaced in the series in 1921 by a new impression with further textual revisions (A19-c3).

The revised second edition (A19-b) text was used for a paperbound padded edition:

A19-3b Riverside Edition

Riverside Editions, B80, Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, The Riverside Press, Cambridge, June 1963, with an “Introduction” and textual analysis by Professor Lionel Stevenson of Duke University who, in explaining why the 1899 text was used for this edition, says,

“It has seemed advisable… to allow Moore the advantage of his first revision, which was mainly confined to the elimination of errors and awkwardnesses, and at the same time to retain the freshness which was partly obliterated by the more sophisticated changes made twenty years later. The most important of the final changes are listed in the appendix along with the principal variations between the present text and its predecessor. In the text a few obvious misprints have been corrected by reverting to the readings of the first edition.”

The editorial analysis and the two appendices, detailing textual differences between the editions of 1894 and 1899 and the editions of 1899 and 1920, makes this the most scholarly and at the same time the closest to a variorum edition of any of GM’s works so far issued for the general reader.

A19-c Third English edition, revised

Title Page

ESTHER WATERS

AN ENGLISH STORY

GEORGE MOORE

19 [publisher’s windmill device] 20

[rule, which also is base of device]

LONDON: WILLIAM HEINEMANN

Launch

Published 24 June 1920 at 7/6

Description

Height: 7 3/8 in; 7.38 in; 18.73 cm

Width: 4 3/4 in; 4.75 in; 12.07 cm

[A]4, B-2D8: pp [2], vi, 416, comprising:

blank leaf, not paginated;
half title, with list of books “By the Same Author” on verso, pp [i-ii];
title page, verso blank, pp [iii-iv];

EPISTLE DEDICATORY

[to] MY DEAR ROLLESTON

pp v-vi;

text pp [1]-415, with

BILLING AND SONS, LTD., PRINTERS, GUILDFORD, ENGLAND

at foot of p 415;

p [416] blank white endpapers;
top and fore edges trimmed, bottom edges rough trimmed;
bound in dark blue cloth, publisher’s monogram in blind in lower right corner of back cover, front cover blind stamped with large elongated paneled design enclosed within double-rule border,
spine gilt stamped

ESTHER

WATERS

GEORGE

MOORE

all enclosed within thin single-rule border with scallop-shaped design at top and bottom

HEINEMANN

Some copies, possibly issued in advance for review purposes, are without the blank leaf, and its conjugate leaf ([A]4), containing the “Epistle Dedicatory,” is tipped in. The page size in these copies is smaller (7 1/8 in; 7.13 in; 18.1 cm x 4¼ in; 4.25 in; 10.8 cm);
all edges are trimmed;
the back and front covers are plain
and the spine is gilt stamped

ESTHER

WATERS

GEORGE

MOORE

HEINEMANN

with double rule at top and bottom

Some copies have an inserted 56-page publisher’s catalogue of “Books actually in print, AUTUMN, 1919.”

The “Epistle Dedicatory” is new and text is completely revised. For an account of the revisions see Appendix II of the edition edited by Lionel Stevenson (A19-3b). Further impressions issued in 1920, 1922, 1923, 1925, 1926, 1928, 1929, 1931, and 1936, with some copies of the latter impression issued in three-quarter leather binding.

Slight revisions of a comparatively few words were made for the 1926 impressions. Jay Jernigan, with the use of a Hinman collator, found “70 one or two word emendations… scattered throughout the book.” This amended text was used for subsequent impressions and editions.

A19-c2 Limited edition impression of third English edition

Title Page

ESTHER WATERS

GEORGE MOORE

LONDON

PRIVATELY PRINTED FOR SUBSCRIBERS ONLY BY

Cumann Seaneolais na h-Eireann [in Gaelic characters]

1920

Launch

Issued October 1920 by T. Werner Laurie

Description

Height: 8 3/4 in; 8.75 in; 22.23 in

Width: 5 3/4 in; 5.75 in; 14.61 cm

[A]4, [a]1 (tipped in), B-2D8; pp [4], vi, 416, comprising:

blank leaf, not paginated;
half title, with list of five books “By GEORGE MOORE” on verso, not paginated;
title page, verso blank, pp [i-ii];
notice of limitation, verso blank, pp [iii-iv];

This edition consists of 750 copies

numbered and signed.

This is No................[numbered in ink]****************

George Moore [signed in ink]

EPISTLE DEDICATORY pp v-vi;
text pp [1]-415, with

BILLING AND SONS, LTD., PRINTERS, GUILDFORD, ENGLAND

at foot of p 415;

p [416] blank;
pale blue endpapers;
top edges trimmed, fore and bottom edges untrimmed;
blue paper covered board sides, matching endpapers,
white parchment spine with white paper label lettered in brown:

Esther

Waters

printer’s ornament

GEORGE

MOORE

Privately

Printed

There were also nine “over” copies, numbered rather than marked “Out of Series” as is customary.

Text same as third English edition (A19-c), the plates of which were used for this impression. GM, in a letter to R. D. Main, published in the Times Literary Supplement, 17 March 1921, explains why these plates were used, rather than having the text hand-set as in other of his works issued in limited editions. Sheets of the regular edition, omitting the “Epistle

Dedicatory,” were used for:

A19-c3 Brentano Uniform Edition

Brentano Uniform Edition, New York, 1921, replacing the earlier text (A19-2b3) originally used for the series. Sheets of a later impression of the English edition, this time including the “Epistle Dedicatory,” were imported and issued in the series in 1931.

A19-c4 Heinemann edition

William Heinemann Ltd., London & Toronto, [1936]. This edition was printed about the same time as the 1936 impression of the third English edition (A19-c), using the plates of that edition, but in a smaller format, on thinner paper, with title on title page in red, and bound in half-leather. The complete revised text, including the “Epistle Dedicatory”, was used for at least nine

further editions:

A19-2c Carra Edition

Carra Edition, Volume V, Boni and Liveright, New York, 1922. There is a tipped-in frontispiece, protected by a tissue guard lettered in red at foot of verso

GEORGE MOORE

From a Painting by Mark Fisher, A.R.A.

A19-3c Black and Gold Library

Black and Gold Library, Liveright, Inc., New York, 24 June 1932, which includes for the first time “A Colloquy: George Moore and Esther Waters,” a revision of “Esther Waters and Mr. Moore” published in the Observer, 21 February 1932. The Colloquy is also included in A19-4c, A19-4c2, A19-6c, A19-7c, and A19-8c.

A19-4c Heinemann Uniform Edition

Uniform Edition, Heinemann, London, October 1932. Second impression 1936. Reissued in a different binding as:

A19-4c2 Ebury Edition

Ebury Edition, Heinemann, February 1938.

A19-5c Everyman’s Library

Everyman’s Library, No. 933, Dent, London, 1936, with an “Introductory Note” by C.D. Medley, GM’s literary executor, and a list of GM’s works with dates of first appearance in book form. Reprinted in 1951.

A19-5c2 Everyman’s Library

Everyman’s Library, 1962, partially reimposed and reissued in a larger format, with a new “Introduction” by Walter Allen replacing Medley’s “Introductory Note.”

A19-6c Penguin Books

Penguin Books, No. 23, paperbound, London, 1936.

A19-7c Premier World Classics

Premier World Classics, No. d95, paperbound, Fawcett Publications, Inc., Greenwich, Conn., July 1960, with an “Introduction” by Bergen Evans, general editor of the series.

A19-8c The World’s Classics

The World’s Classics, No. 594, Oxford University Press, London, 1964, with an “Introduction” by Graham Hough. Reprinted 1983 with a new “Introduction” by David Skilton, plus a select bibliography, a chronology, and notes.

Bibliographical Comment

A dramatization of a portion of Esther Waters was published in January 1913 as Esther Waters: A Play in Five Acts (A32).

See D:Da-l for Danish; D:Fr-12 and D:Fr-26 for French; D:Ge-5 for German; D:It-3 and D:It-5 for Italian; D:Ru-2 for Russian; and D;Sw-l for Swedish translations.

Source: Curated by George Moore Interactive LLC (georgemooreinteractive.org) — Shared for research, educational, and personal use.