Is My Man's Search for Meaning (orig. Ein Psycholog erlebt das Konzentrationslager) a First Edition?

The points of issue

• CENSUS CORRECTION — the title in the census entry is wrong
• Vienna: Verlag für Jugend und Volk, 1946
• The German original of Man's Search for Meaning is "Ein Psycholog erlebt das Konzentrationslager" ("A Psychologist Experiences the Concentration Camp"), NOT "...trotzdem Ja zum Leben sagen." Note the first-edition spelling "Psycholog," not the later standard "Psychologe" — that spelling is itself a useful tell
• It was issued as volume 1 of the series "Österreichische Dokumente zur Zeitgeschichte," edited by Anton Tesarek
• Octavo, 130 pp., in the publisher's illustrated printed white wrappers — a softcover series volume, not a cloth trade book
• There is no printing statement and no number line: the 1946 Vienna imprint, the series line "Österreichische Dokumente zur Zeitgeschichte, Bd

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. Read the number line — the lowest number is the printing. A line including 1 is a first printing (Random House deliberately ends at 2). Paste it into the decoder.
3. 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.
4. 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?

German-original precedence, and the publisher and year in the census entry (Verlag für Jugend und Volk, Vienna, 1946) are right — but the title is wrong, and the error is the standard trap for this book. "…trotzdem Ja zum Leben sagen. Drei Vorträge" is an entirely DIFFERENT 1946 Frankl book — three lectures delivered at the Volkshochschule Ottakring — published in Vienna by Franz Deuticke. The two are routinely conflated because modern German editions married the titles: the standard German text is now issued as "…trotzdem Ja zum Leben sagen: Ein Psychologe erlebt das Konzentrationslager." A copy of the Deuticke lectures is not the first edition of Man's Search for Meaning. First English: Boston, Beacon Press, 1959, titled "From Death-Camp to Existentialism: A Psychiatrist's Path to a New Therapy," translated by Ilse Lasch with a preface by Gordon W. Allport — first edition in English, xiv, 111 pp., in publisher's burgundy/crimson cloth lettered in white (a variant with a blind-stamped front board is recorded), in a very elusive priced jacket (price present at the flap); the first-state jacket carries Gordon Allport's name on the front panel.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

The 1946 Vienna original is a wrappered series volume; any cloth-bound copy is a later binding or a different edition. The title "Man's Search for Meaning" was not used at all until 1962, when Beacon Press reissued the English text as "Man's Search for Meaning: An Introduction to Logotherapy," described on its own title page as a newly revised and enlarged edition of From Death-Camp to Existentialism. Every book bearing the title Man's Search for Meaning is therefore later than the 1959 first English, and the ubiquitous paperbacks are "first thus" issues of a text that has been revised and expanded across later editions — not reprints of the 1959 book. No dedicated book-club issue of the 1946 Vienna or 1959 Beacon first is documented in the sources consulted.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Man's Search for Meaning (orig. Ein Psycholog erlebt das Konzentrationslager) a first edition?

A first edition of Man's Search for Meaning (orig. Ein Psycholog erlebt das Konzentrationslager) by Viktor E. Frankl (Verlag für Jugend und Volk) is identified by: CENSUS CORRECTION — the title in the census entry is wrong.

How do I tell the first printing from a later one?

Check the copyright page. A number line whose lowest number is 1 marks a first printing (Random House ends at 2). German-original precedence, and the publisher and year in the census entry (Verlag für Jugend und Volk, Vienna, 1946) are right — but the title is wrong, and the error is the standard trap for this book.

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

The 1946 Vienna original is a wrappered series volume; any cloth-bound copy is a later binding or a different edition. The title "Man's Search for Meaning" was not used at all until 1962, when Beacon Press reissued the English text as "Man's Search for Meaning: An Introduction to Logotherapy," described on its own title page as a newly revised and enlarged edition of From Death-Camp to Existentialism. Every book bearing the title Man's Search for Meaning is therefore later than the 1959 first En

I have a first edition of Man's Search for Meaning (orig. Ein Psycholog erlebt das Konzentrationslager) — 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.