Is My Capital: A Critical Analysis of Capitalist Production a First Edition?

The points of issue

• First English translation of Volume I of Das Kapital to appear as an authorized, complete book, London: Swan Sonnenschein, Lowrey, and Co., published January 1887, four years after Marx's death, issued in two octavo volumes in the publisher's original cloth
• Translated by Samuel Moore and Edward Aveling -- the longtime partner of Marx's daughter Eleanor, popularly though not legally styled Marx's son-in-law -- from Friedrich Engels's third German edition of 1883, and edited throughout by Engels, whose preface is dated 5 November 1886; the title page carries all three names as translators and editor
• Earlier, partial English renderings had already appeared in the socialist press -- extracts from the French edition in the magazine To-Day in 1883, and a serialized translation of the book's first ten chapters, from the German, in the same magazine from October 1885 -- but the Swan Sonnenschein edition was the first complete, authorized English translation to appear in book form

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. 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.
3. 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.
4. 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 1887 Swan Sonnenschein edition is the first complete English translation of Volume I to appear as an authorized book; it was preceded by partial, unauthorized renderings in the magazine To-Day (extracts from the French edition in 1883, and a serialized translation of the first ten chapters by Henry Hyndman, under the pseudonym John Broadhouse, beginning October 1885).P-035853

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

The 1889 New York reprint (D. Appleton & Co.) uses the identical Swan Sonnenschein typesetting but issues it in a single volume rather than two; it reproduces the 1887 sheets and is not a separate edition.P-035854

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Capital: A Critical Analysis of Capitalist Production a first edition?

A first edition of Capital: A Critical Analysis of Capitalist Production by Karl Marx (Swan Sonnenschein, Lowrey, and Co.) is identified by: First English translation of Volume I of Das Kapital to appear as an authorized, complete book, London: Swan Sonnenschein, Lowrey, and Co., published January 1887, four years after Marx's death, issued in two octavo volumes in the publisher's original cloth.

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 1887 Swan Sonnenschein edition is the first complete English translation of Volume I to appear as an authorized book; it was preceded by partial, unauthorized renderings in the magazine To-Day (extracts from the French edition in 1883, and a serialized translation of the first ten chapters by Henry Hyndman, under the pseudonym John Broadhouse, beginning October 1885).

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

The 1889 New York reprint (D. Appleton & Co.) uses the identical Swan Sonnenschein typesetting but issues it in a single volume rather than two; it reproduces the 1887 sheets and is not a separate edition.

I have a first edition of Capital: A Critical Analysis of Capitalist Production — 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.