Is My Mohn und Gedächtnis a First Edition?

The points of issue

• First edition, issued December 1952 with general sale from January 1953
• 75 pp., in the publisher's black original linen with cover and spine titles stamped in gilt; catalogued as Wilpert/Gühring II 8 ('WG² 8'), the reference German dealers cite to confirm the first
• The volume collects 56 poems in three cycles — 'Der Sand aus den Urnen', 'Gegenlicht' and 'Halme der Nacht' — of which 27 are carried over in slightly altered form from the suppressed 1948 Vienna book whose title supplies the first cycle's name; that recurrence is a common source of confusion between the two books
• Dealers record a transparent glassine jacket printed on the flaps, but we found this on only one description, so treat its absence as unproven rather than as a defect
• Der Sand aus den Urnen (Vienna: A. Sexl, 1948), the bibliographic first: 500 hand-numbered copies, 61 pp. + 1 leaf, roughly 22 x 14.5 cm, in original half-cloth with the cover title printed in red, with two lithographs by Edgar Jené — Celan telegraphed to have the book withdrawn on receiving it, objecting to the printing errors and to Jené's illustrations, and copies are recorded with the lithographs removed by Celan himself and with his autograph corrections in ink

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?

Both books belong in a serious reference, and the distinction is one of definition rather than doubt. Der Sand aus den Urnen (A. Sexl, Vienna, 1948) is Celan's first book and the first German-language appearance of 'Todesfuge'; Mohn und Gedächtnis (DVA, Stuttgart, 1952) is the first edition Celan himself acknowledged — German auction cataloguing describes it as the first book publication recognised by the author — and is the first obtainable book for effectively all collectors. Note also that 'Todesfuge' had already appeared in print before either book, in Petre Solomon's Romanian translation as 'Tangoul morţii' in Contemporanul (Bucharest, May 1947), which was also the first appearance of the pseudonym 'Celan'; the 1948 Vienna book is the first German printing, not the first printing. No English edition has any precedence.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club edition of the 1948 Vienna book — the question is largely moot, since sources record that by 1952 only five deposit copies had gone to libraries and nine had been sold, with 320 copies pulped (a tally that does not account for the full 500, so the survival figure should be read as approximate). For Mohn und Gedächtnis, DVA reprinted the collection and it remains in print, including a Joachim Seng edition, so the 1952 black linen binding, the 75-page collation and the WG² 8 reference — not the DVA imprint — are what identify the first.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Mohn und Gedächtnis a first edition?

A first edition of Mohn und Gedächtnis by Paul Celan (Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Stuttgart) is identified by: First edition, issued December 1952 with general sale from January 1953; 75 pp., in the publisher's black original linen with cover and spine titles stamped in gilt; catalogued as Wilpert/Gühring II 8 ('WG² 8'), the reference German dealers cite to confirm the first.

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. Both books belong in a serious reference, and the distinction is one of definition rather than doubt.

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

No book-club edition of the 1948 Vienna book — the question is largely moot, since sources record that by 1952 only five deposit copies had gone to libraries and nine had been sold, with 320 copies pulped (a tally that does not account for the full 500, so the survival figure should be read as approximate). For Mohn und Gedächtnis, DVA reprinted the collection and it remains in print, including a Joachim Seng edition, so the 1952 black linen binding, the 75-page collation and the WG² 8 reference

I have a first edition of Mohn und Gedächtnis — 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.