# Is "All Quiet on the Western Front" by Erich Maria Remarque a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque (Propyläen Verlag, Berlin, 1929) 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. The census claim is confirmed.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- 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
- Publisher imprint reads Propyläen Verlag, Berlin

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Erich Maria Remarque |
| Publisher | Propyläen Verlag, Berlin |
| Year | 1929 |
| True first | American edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | German true first: Im Westen nichts Neues, Propyläen-Verlag (Ullstein & Co.), Berlin, published in book form in January 1929 (sources give… |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## 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. First edition in English: G. P. Putnam's Sons, London, March 1929, translated by A. W. Wheen. First American: Little, Brown and Company, Boston, June 1929, same Wheen translation but expurgated.

## 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.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *All Quiet on the Western Front* by Erich Maria Remarque a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/all-quiet-on-the-western-front
CC BY 4.0. Part of the Canonical First-Edition Points of Issue dataset (https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/api/first-edition-titles.json). Last reviewed 2026-07-04.