Is My In the Habitations of Death (In den Wohnungen des Todes) a First Edition?

The points of issue

• The true first is the Aufbau-Verlag (East Berlin) issue of 1947, Sachs's first published poetry collection: 75 pp., small octavo (roughly 19 x 13 cm), with full-page drawings by Rudi Stern (dealer copies collate 11 illustrations) and the dedication "Meinen toten Brüdern und Schwestern" ("to my dead brothers and sisters")
• The 1947 first printing carries the print-run statement "1.-20
• Tausend" (total run 20,000 copies); that Tausend line plus the Rudi Stern drawings confirm the true first against a bare "1946" claim, but the line appears on BOTH states and does not by itself distinguish trade from deluxe
• Two issues exist: the ordinary trade issue in illustrated wrappers (original-Broschur with illustrated dust jacket), and a numbered Vorzugsausgabe of 200 copies in full linen/cloth with the original dust jacket (the more desirable state)
• Sachs's original working title was "Dein Leib im Rauch durch die Luft," changed to the final title at Aufbau's request before publication; presence of the final title is correct for the first

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 true first edition is the German-language "In den Wohnungen des Todes," Aufbau-Verlag, (East) Berlin, 1947 — Sachs's first published poetry collection. The first English-language book is "O the Chimneys: Selected Poems, Including the Verse Play, Eli," Farrar, Straus and Giroux, New York, 1967 (xxi + 387 pp.), a career-spanning bilingual selection with an introduction by Hans Magnus Enzensberger and translations by several hands (Michael Hamburger, Ruth and Matthew Mead, Michael Roloff, Christopher Holme, and others), issued right after her 1966 Nobel Prize; first printings are stated "First English Language Edition" and should retain the original unclipped dust jacket. There is no standalone English-only first edition of "In den Wohnungen des Todes"; English readers encounter it inside "O the Chimneys."

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No U.S. book-club (BCE/Reader's-type) edition of this German poetry volume exists, so the classic blind-stamp/clipped-jacket book-club tells do not apply. The real trap is dating and later reprints: scholarly consensus (German Wikipedia; the Frühe Texte der Holocaust-/Lagerliteratur catalog; the Literary Encyclopedia) fixes the first edition at 1947, yet some dealer/eBay listings tag the wrappered trade issue "1946" — treat a bare "1946" claim skeptically and verify against the "1.-20. Tausend" statement and the Rudi Stern drawings rather than a penciled date. Also distinguish the 1947 Aufbau first from the later Suhrkamp reissues (from 1961 onward) and its reappearance within collected editions such as "Fahrt ins Staublose" (Suhrkamp, 1961) and the multi-volume "Werke. Kommentierte Ausgabe" — none of which are the first.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of In the Habitations of Death (In den Wohnungen des Todes) a first edition?

A first edition of In the Habitations of Death (In den Wohnungen des Todes) by Nelly Sachs (Aufbau-Verlag) is identified by: The true first is the Aufbau-Verlag (East Berlin) issue of 1947, Sachs's first published poetry collection: 75 pp., small octavo (roughly 19 x 13 cm), with full-page drawings by Rudi Stern (dealer copies collate 11 illustrations) and the dedication "Meinen toten Brüdern und Schwestern" ("to my dead brothers and sisters").

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 true first edition is the German-language "In den Wohnungen des Todes," Aufbau-Verlag, (East) Berlin, 1947 — Sachs's first published poetry collection.

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

No U.S. book-club (BCE/Reader's-type) edition of this German poetry volume exists, so the classic blind-stamp/clipped-jacket book-club tells do not apply. The real trap is dating and later reprints: scholarly consensus (German Wikipedia; the Frühe Texte der Holocaust-/Lagerliteratur catalog; the Literary Encyclopedia) fixes the first edition at 1947, yet some dealer/eBay listings tag the wrappered trade issue "1946" — treat a bare "1946" claim skeptically and verify against the "1.-20. Tausend"

I have a first edition of In the Habitations of Death (In den Wohnungen des Todes) — 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.