# Is "Demian" by Hermann Hesse a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Demian by Hermann Hesse (S. Fischer Verlag, Berlin, 1919) is identified by: Fischer Verlag, Berlin, 1919, issued under the pseudonym 'Emil Sinclair' (the narrator's name) — the defining point of the first printings, whose title page bears no mention of Hesse. The German first (S.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- German true first: S. Fischer Verlag, Berlin, 1919, issued under the pseudonym 'Emil Sinclair' (the narrator's name) — the defining point of the first printings, whose title page bears no mention of Hesse
- Hesse's authorship was publicly exposed in 1920 (by Otto Flake and Eduard Korrodi), after which the attribution was corrected and Hesse returned the Fontane Prize he had won as a supposed first-time author; the tenth edition was the first to carry Hesse's own name and the expanded title 'Demian: Die Geschichte von Emil Sinclairs Jugend.' The novel had first appeared serially in Die Neue Rundschau (February–April 1919) before separate book publication that June
- Publisher imprint reads S. Fischer Verlag, Berlin
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Hermann Hesse |
| Publisher | S. Fischer Verlag, Berlin |
| Year | 1919 |
| True first | American edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | German true first: S. Fischer Verlag, Berlin, 1919, issued under the pseudonym 'Emil Sinclair' (the narrator's name) — the defining point… |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
German true first: S. Fischer Verlag, Berlin, 1919, issued under the pseudonym 'Emil Sinclair' (the narrator's name) — the defining point of the first printings, whose title page bears no mention of Hesse. Hesse's authorship was publicly exposed in 1920 (by Otto Flake and Eduard Korrodi), after which the attribution was corrected and Hesse returned the Fontane Prize he had won as a supposed first-time author; the tenth edition was the first to carry Hesse's own name and the expanded title 'Demian: Die Geschichte von Emil Sinclairs Jugend.' The novel had first appeared serially in Die Neue Rundschau (February–April 1919) before separate book publication that June.

## Is this the true first?
The German first (S. Fischer, 1919, as by 'Emil Sinclair') is the true first. First edition in English, and first American, is the N. H. Priday translation, Boni & Liveright, New York, 1923 — described as the second Hesse novel to appear in English — in publisher's cloth with a geometric black-and-red pattern repeated on the dust jacket; it was reissued by Henry Holt in 1948. Both the 1919 German first and the 1923 Boni & Liveright are collected.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Multiple early 'Emil Sinclair' printings exist; only the earliest S. Fischer printings predate the 1920 authorship revelation, and later printings carry Hesse's name. The 1948 Henry Holt reissue and later mid-century reprints are not the 1923 first English edition.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Demian* by Hermann Hesse a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/demian
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.