2 Bertolt Brecht first editions are documented on this shelf, from The Threepenny Opera (Die Dreigroschenoper) (1928) to Mother Courage and Her Children (Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder) (1949) across 2 different publishers. Each linked guide gives the points of issue that separate a true first printing of that Bertolt Brecht title from later printings and book-club copies — the publisher and year to expect, the number-line or edition-statement conventions, and the tells that show up in online listings.

Identification only, per the house rule: no prices and no appraisals here. Checking a Bertolt Brecht copy in hand? Type the title into the First-Edition Checker or photograph the copyright page with Snap & Sort.

The Threepenny Opera (Die Dreigroschenoper) — 1928 · Universal-Edition, Vienna–LeipzigCENSUS CORRECTED — the true first of the play text is NOT Versuche 3. The full Textbuch (libretto) was published by Universal-Edition, Wien–Leipzig, in 1928, publisher's catalogue number 8850, in original printed wrappers, octavo, co-published with Felix Bloch Erben for theatrical rental and for public sale; the Kurt Weill Foundation dates the Universal-Edition libretto and the piano-vocal score (Klavierauszug)…. The census is wrong on two counts and both should be corrected on the record. (1) The song texts were not a Universal-Edition Vienna publication: 'Die Songs der Dreigroschenoper' was published by Gustav Kiepenheuer, Potsdam, 1928 — a small twelvemo pamphlet of the song texts only, in original printed wrappers, printed by the Hoboken-Presse in Charlottenburg, distributed to the audience at the Theater am…. No book-club or later-issue tells are documented for the 1928 Universal-Edition or Kiepenheuer printings. Two dating hazards instead: Versuche Heft 3 is dated 1931 on the volume but was issued in January 1932 — the reverse of the usual reprint trap, since the printed date is earlier than actual publication; and at least one bibliography gives 1929 for 'Die Songs der Dreigroschenoper', against the 1928 date….
Mother Courage and Her Children (Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder) — 1949 · Suhrkamp VerlagThe first printing is not a standalone book but the ninth booklet of Brecht's ongoing 'Versuche' series: Heft 9, carrying the internal work-numbering 'Versuche 20/21', issued by Suhrkamp Verlag vormals S. Fischer, Berlin and Frankfurt am Main, 1949. Contents are 'Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder (Eine Chronik aus dem Dreissigjaehrigen Krieg)' together with the essay 'Fuenf Schwierigkeiten beim Schreiben der…. The German original has precedence over every translation; the census claim is correct as to publisher, city and year. Suhrkamp Verlag (vormals S. Fischer), Berlin/Frankfurt, 1949 = the true first. Correction to a common assumption: the Aufbau-Verlag, Berlin issues of Versuche Heft 9 are NOT a simultaneous East/West twin — they follow Suhrkamp at a remove, the earliest Aufbau Heft 9 recorded in the trade being…. No book-club edition is documented for the German Versuche. The tells are later printings sharing the identical series designation: Suhrkamp reissues of Heft 9 dated 1950, 1956, 1957 and 1958 (the 1958 appearing in hardbound form), and Aufbau-Verlag, Berlin issues dated 1952, 1955, 1956 and 1961. Because every one of these repeats 'Versuche 20/21 / Heft 9' on the wrapper, the series number proves nothing — the….

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