The Prince of Abissinia (Rasselas)

The census note that 'the Rasselas title only appears on later editions' requires correction. The name is already present in the first edition: the drop-head title on p. 1 of both volumes reads 'The History of Rasselas, Prince of Abissinia'. What is true — and is the real point — is that Rasselas never appears on a title-page published in Johnson's lifetime; the London 1759 title-page reads 'The Prince of Abissinia. A Tale.' Dealers (Peter Harrington, Bauman) note the sole lifetime exception is the first American edition, which they date 1768; one secondary account instead gives 1766 for a Robert Bell Philadelphia printing, and because the sources consulted conflict, no date for the American edition is asserted here. The London 1759 Dodsley/Johnston printing is the true first; the American edition is a reprint and not a competing first.