Dating the publication of Hugh Miller's The testimony of the rocks (1857).

Assessing the precise publication dates of nineteenth-century books is difficult. Common problems include inadequate, inaccurate and confusing title-page information, and misleading advertisements. It is better to use multiple lines of evidence rather than a single source. The first Scottish and English edition of The testimony of the rocks, by Hugh Miller (1802–1856), is shown to have been published on or about 24 March 1857, after the author's suicide, as a combination of the first and second issues simultaneously. The first issue was published by Shepherd & Elliot of Edinburgh in co-operation with Hamilton, Adams & Co. of London. It was optionally available with an additional frontispiece of a photographic print of Miller. The second issue was published by Thomas Constable & Co. of Edinburgh with Shepherd & Elliot and Hamilton, Adams. After some further issues, Shepherd & Elliot was dropped later in 1857, so that the third publishers' imprint became Constable with Hamilton, Adams, for a number of issues. Constable and Hamilton, Adams published a newly-typeset second Edinburgh edition in 1860, but failed to denote it as such. Gould & Lincoln of Boston, Massachusetts, published the first American edition (from a new typesetting) and distributed it on or about 25 April 1857. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]