# Is "Capital: A Critical Analysis of Capitalist Production" by Karl Marx a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Capital: A Critical Analysis of Capitalist Production by Karl Marx (Swan Sonnenschein, Lowrey, and Co., 1887) 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. 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).

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- 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
- Publisher imprint reads Swan Sonnenschein, Lowrey, and Co.
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Karl Marx |
| Publisher | Swan Sonnenschein, Lowrey, and Co. |
| Year | 1887 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | First English translation of Volume I of Das Kapital to appear as an authorized, complete book, London: Swan Sonnenschein, Lowrey, and Co.… |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## 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.

## 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).

## 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.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Capital: A Critical Analysis of Capitalist Production* by Karl Marx a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/capital-a-critical-analysis-of-capitalist-production
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.