# Is "Amerika" by Franz Kafka a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Amerika by Franz Kafka (Kurt Wolff Verlag, Munich, 1927) is identified by: German true first, published posthumously (Kafka died 1924): Kurt Wolff Verlag, München, 1927, edited with an afterword by Max Brod, who supplied the title 'Amerika' — Kafka's own working title was 'Der Verschollene' (The Man Who Disappeared). The original-language German first (Kurt Wolff, Munich, 1927) is the true first.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- German true first, published posthumously (Kafka died 1924): Kurt Wolff Verlag, München, 1927, edited with an afterword by Max Brod, who supplied the title 'Amerika' — Kafka's own working title was 'Der Verschollene' (The Man Who Disappeared)
- Issued in publisher's red cloth with a printed title vignette to the front board and spine, 391 pp., the binding/cover design by Georg Salter and the text printed at Offizin W. Drugulin, Leipzig; the first printing carries no later-impression notice
- A single chapter had appeared separately earlier as 'Der Heizer' (Kurt Wolff, 1913), which is a distinct prior publication, not this novel
- Publisher imprint reads Kurt Wolff Verlag, Munich
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Franz Kafka |
| Publisher | Kurt Wolff Verlag, Munich |
| Year | 1927 |
| True first | American edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | German true first, published posthumously (Kafka died 1924): Kurt Wolff Verlag, München, 1927, edited with an afterword by Max Brod, who… |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
German true first, published posthumously (Kafka died 1924): Kurt Wolff Verlag, München, 1927, edited with an afterword by Max Brod, who supplied the title 'Amerika' — Kafka's own working title was 'Der Verschollene' (The Man Who Disappeared). Issued in publisher's red cloth with a printed title vignette to the front board and spine, 391 pp., the binding/cover design by Georg Salter and the text printed at Offizin W. Drugulin, Leipzig; the first printing carries no later-impression notice. A single chapter had appeared separately earlier as 'Der Heizer' (Kurt Wolff, 1913), which is a distinct prior publication, not this novel.

## Is this the true first?
The original-language German first (Kurt Wolff, Munich, 1927) is the true first. First edition in English is the Willa & Edwin Muir translation issued in London by George Routledge & Sons in 1938 under the variant title 'America'; the first American edition followed from New Directions (Norfolk, CT), published 8 October 1940 as 'Amerika' in the New Classics series (Klaus Mann preface, Brod afterword, Alvin Lustig jacket, 277 pp.). The London 1938 issue precedes the US 1940 issue; the German first and both translated editions are collected.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
The New Directions 'Amerika' was reprinted (notably in 1946); the 1946 and later New Directions printings are reprints, not the 8 October 1940 first American edition. Do not treat the common 1946 New Directions copies as the US first.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Amerika* by Franz Kafka a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/amerika
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.