Is My Critik der reinen Vernunft (Critique of Pure Reason) a First Edition?

The points of issue

• First edition, Riga: Johann Friedrich Hartknoch, 1781
• Octavo, collating [24], 856 pp. — one blank leaf, title, two leaves of Dedication, eight leaves of Vorrede, one leaf of Inhalt, then 856 numbered pages and a terminal blank; woodcut device on the title with woodcut head- and tail-pieces
• The title must read "Critik" in the original spelling (not the later standard "Kritik") and must carry no edition statement: the 1787 revision is styled "Zweyte hin und wieder verbesserte Auflage" on its title, so any "Auflage" line rules the copy out as the 1781 "A" text
• References: Printing and the Mind of Man 226
• Adickes 46
• Norman 1197

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. Confirm the first-edition statement — look for “First Edition,” “First Printing,” or the publisher’s equivalent wording.
3. 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.
4. 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.
5. 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 Riga 1781 German printing (the "A" edition) is the true first. The substantially revised second edition (Riga: Hartknoch, 1787, the "B" edition) is separately and seriously collected as the first appearance of the rewritten Transcendental Deduction and the Refutation of Idealism; modern scholarly texts print A and B in parallel, and collectors of the work generally want both. The census claim that Meiklejohn (Bohn, 1855) is the first English translation is INCORRECT and is corrected here: the first English translation is Francis Haywood's "The Critick of Pure Reason" (London: William Pickering, 1838), with Haywood's revised second edition in 1848. J. M. D. Meiklejohn's translation (London: Henry G. Bohn, Bohn's Philosophical Library, 1855) is the second English translation — it is the common Victorian reading copy and the realistic English-market form, but it is not the first English appearance.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No 18th-century book-club analogue exists. Reprint tells: a title reading "Kritik" rather than "Critik", or bearing any "Auflage" statement, is not the 1781 sheet. Bohn's Philosophical Library issues from 1855 and the later Everyman and Macmillan Meiklejohn printings are translations reset from the 1787 B text, not editions of the German first; the Kant-Gesellschaft and Akademie-Ausgabe texts are 20th-century scholarly reprints. Every German edition after 1787 follows the reset B text, so a German-language copy dated after 1781 is by definition not the A edition.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Critik der reinen Vernunft (Critique of Pure Reason) a first edition?

A first edition of Critik der reinen Vernunft (Critique of Pure Reason) by Immanuel Kant (Johann Friedrich Hartknoch, Riga) is identified by: First edition, Riga: Johann Friedrich Hartknoch, 1781.

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 Riga 1781 German printing (the "A" edition) is the true first.

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

No 18th-century book-club analogue exists. Reprint tells: a title reading "Kritik" rather than "Critik", or bearing any "Auflage" statement, is not the 1781 sheet. Bohn's Philosophical Library issues from 1855 and the later Everyman and Macmillan Meiklejohn printings are translations reset from the 1787 B text, not editions of the German first; the Kant-Gesellschaft and Akademie-Ausgabe texts are 20th-century scholarly reprints. Every German edition after 1787 follows the reset B text, so a Germ

I have a first edition of Critik der reinen Vernunft (Critique of Pure Reason) — 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.