Display Table 3 holds a complete set of the Royal Octavo third edition (1859), in seven volumes. Six volumes are open to display one print each. The prints are changed periodically. A seventh volume is displayed closed, to exhibit the publisher’s binding. Since these prints and bound volume change over time, no numbers in this catalog are assigned to items in this table.
The first edition (1839-1844) did not have a publisher’s binding, since the work was sold over time as 100 paperback fascicles (see examples in Display Table 1 to the left). Subscribers were encouraged to have them bound into seven volumes.
From the second edition (1856) through the seventh and last (1871), the various publishers sold not fascicles but hard-bound sets, with varying covers, such as the deluxe leather one on view. Besides the cover, the main difference between this third edition and the first edition is that this one (like the second and later editions) has a background tint in the images (see numbers 69-72 and 93-99).
