# Is "Doctor Faustus (Doktor Faustus)" by Thomas Mann a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Doctor Faustus (Doktor Faustus) by Thomas Mann (Bermann-Fischer Verlag, 1947) is identified by: German first edition, Bermann-Fischer Verlag, Stockholm, 1947 (full title: Doktor Faustus: Das Leben des deutschen Tonsetzers Adrian Leverkühn, erzählt von einem Freunde), issued as part of the Stockholmer Gesamtausgabe of Mann's works. The German Stockholm Bermann-Fischer 1947 edition is the true first published edition; it precedes the English editions (Knopf, 1948, translated by H.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- German first edition, Bermann-Fischer Verlag, Stockholm, 1947 (full title: Doktor Faustus: Das Leben des deutschen Tonsetzers Adrian Leverkühn, erzählt von einem Freunde), issued as part of the Stockholmer Gesamtausgabe of Mann's works
- The first printing is identified by the 1947 Stockholm imprint, in publisher's cloth (brown cloth with gilt spine in the collected-edition format)
- Publisher imprint reads Bermann-Fischer Verlag
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Thomas Mann |
| Publisher | Bermann-Fischer Verlag |
| Year | 1947 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | German first edition, Bermann-Fischer Verlag, Stockholm, 1947 (full title: Doktor Faustus: Das Leben des deutschen Tonsetzers Adrian… |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
German first edition, Bermann-Fischer Verlag, Stockholm, 1947 (full title: Doktor Faustus: Das Leben des deutschen Tonsetzers Adrian Leverkühn, erzählt von einem Freunde), issued as part of the Stockholmer Gesamtausgabe of Mann's works. The first printing is identified by the 1947 Stockholm imprint, in publisher's cloth (brown cloth with gilt spine in the collected-edition format).

## Is this the true first?
The German Stockholm Bermann-Fischer 1947 edition is the true first published edition; it precedes the English editions (Knopf, 1948, translated by H. T. Lowe-Porter).

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Later Frankfurt S. Fischer printings (post-1949) are not the Stockholm first. The Lowe-Porter English translation is a separate first thus.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Doctor Faustus (Doktor Faustus)* by Thomas Mann a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/doctor-faustus-doktor-faustus
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.