Is My All Quiet on the Western Front a First Edition?

The points of issue

• German true first: Im Westen nichts Neues, Propyläen-Verlag (Ullstein & Co.), Berlin, published in book form in January 1929 (sources give 29 or 31 January) after serialisation in the Vossische Zeitung from 10 November 1928
• Octavo, publisher's beige/tan cloth, title stamped in black and maroon, in the publisher's typographic first-state jacket (usually lacking); the copyright notice is dated 1928 although the book was published in 1929
• The identification mechanism is the cumulative "Tausend" (thousand) count printed on the title page: dealers record the earliest state as "1.–50
• Tausend", and any higher count is a later 1929 printing — a copy stating, for example, "751.–755
• Tausend" dates to August 1929
• The book reached roughly 450,000 copies within eleven weeks and some 900,000 in the first year, so high Tausend counts on 1929-dated copies are common and are not first printings

How to confirm the first-printing statement

Publishers stated first printings differently by era. The decisive tells are a printed “First Edition/First Printing” statement, a number line whose lowest number is 1 (Random House ends at 2), or a dated first printing with no later printings listed. Paste your copyright page into the number-line decoder.

How to verify your copy, step by step

1. Find the copyright page — the verso (back) of the title page.
2. Confirm the first-edition statement — look for “First Edition,” “First Printing,” or the publisher’s equivalent wording.
3. Check for a number line or dated printing — the lowest number present is the printing; a dated first printing with no later printings listed is the tell.
4. Verify this is the American true first — not a later-market or reprint edition.
5. Rule out a book-club edition — a blind-stamp on the rear board or a jacket with no printed price marks a book-club copy.
6. Photograph four things — the front cover, spine, title page, and copyright page — the standard record for identification.

The dust jacket

For a collectible first edition the dust jacket matters as much as the book. Confirm the jacket is present and unclipped — the printed price should still be at the corner of the flap (a clipped corner or a price-less flap can indicate a book-club issue). First-state jackets can differ from later ones in the cover art, blurbs, or review quotations; where a specific first-state jacket point is known for this title it is noted above.

Binding & format

Where multiple bindings exist, the hardcover trade issue is usually (but not always) the precedence copy — confirm against the points above. Later printings often show cheaper cloth, thinner boards, or simplified spine stamping. A simultaneous signed or limited issue, when one exists, is a distinct state from the trade first.

Is this the true first?

The census claim is confirmed. The German Propyläen edition (Berlin, January 1929) is the true first. In English, the Putnam London edition of March 1929 is the first English-language edition and precedes the far more common Little, Brown Boston edition of June 1929 by about three months; both are collected, but the London edition holds priority and carries the unexpurgated Wheen text. The American text is a distinct, censored state: Little, Brown cut it to satisfy obscenity law and to secure a Book-of-the-Month Club selection, removing among other things the extended latrine scene and a three-page hospital episode along with numerous smaller omissions touching sex and bodily functions. Collectors wanting Wheen's text as he made it need the London printing, not the Boston one.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

German side: the title-page Tausend count is itself the reprint tell — anything above the first band is a later printing, and 1929-dated copies with counts in the hundreds of thousands are reprints, not firsts. American side: the Little, Brown first was a Book-of-the-Month Club selection, so BOMC copies circulate alongside the trade issue, and a later BOMC facsimile reprint of the 1929 American edition also exists — check for club tells (blind-stamped rear board, unpriced jacket) rather than assuming the 1929 date settles the question. A 1930 "first thus" London reissue is also in the market and is not the first edition.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of All Quiet on the Western Front a first edition?

A first edition of All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque (Propyläen Verlag, Berlin) is identified by: German true first: Im Westen nichts Neues, Propyläen-Verlag (Ullstein & Co.), Berlin, published in book form in January 1929 (sources give 29 or 31 January) after serialisation in the Vossische Zeitung from 10 November 1928.

How do I tell the first printing from a later one?

Check the copyright page. A stated first edition, a number line ending in 1, or a dated first printing with no later printings listed is the key. The census claim is confirmed.

Is the book-club edition the same as the first?

German side: the title-page Tausend count is itself the reprint tell — anything above the first band is a later printing, and 1929-dated copies with counts in the hundreds of thousands are reprints, not firsts. American side: the Little, Brown first was a Book-of-the-Month Club selection, so BOMC copies circulate alongside the trade issue, and a later BOMC facsimile reprint of the 1929 American edition also exists — check for club tells (blind-stamped rear board, unpriced jacket) rather than ass

I have a first edition of All Quiet on the Western Front — what should I do?

First, document the copy: photograph the copyright page (the number line and any edition statement) and the dust-jacket flap — an unclipped, priced jacket matters. Confirm the points of issue above against your copy, and use the free First Edition Checker to decode the printing. To sell, the author’s collecting guide covers the market. And if you are clearing books in the Albuquerque area, the New Mexico Literacy Project offers free pickup, any condition, and makes sure collectible copies are identified rather than discarded.

Glossary

First edition

Every copy printed from the first setting of type. Collectors usually want the first edition, first printing (the true first).

First printing / impression

A single press run from that setting. The first printing is the earliest and most desirable; later printings are still the first edition but not the true first.

Number line (printer's key)

A row of numbers on the copyright page (e.g. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1). The lowest number present is the printing — a line including 1 marks a first printing (Random House deliberately ends at 2).

Points of issue

Specific physical details — a stated edition, a number line, a typo, a jacket state — that identify the true first printing.

Book-club edition (BCE)

A reprint made for a book club. Tells include a blind-stamped dot or square on the rear board and a dust jacket with no printed price. Not the true first.

First thus

The first appearance of a particular version (first paperback, first illustrated, first U.S. printing) — a first of that kind, not the first edition of the work.