Note 46 to Chapter 5 of the author's Pegasus in Harness: Victorian Publishing and W. M. Thackeray, which University Press of Virginia published in 1992. It has been included in the Victorian Web with the kind permission of the author, who of course retains copyright.
The Smith, Elder records show that Bradbury and Evans turned over 5,217 copies of various numbers in August 1865 to Smith, Elder, who printed 3,663 more numbers on 18 Oct. and 10 Dec. 1865. Not until 3 April 1866 is there a record that repairs were made in the stereotypes, after which 5,969 more numbers were printed. This gave a total of 14,849 numbers, which were bound into 613 copies of the novel, leaving only 111 numbes after having also sold 26 loose numbers. The plates of the first edition, not used again, were sold as old metal on 1 July 1868.
Last modified: 4 April 2001