Is My Mother Courage and Her Children (Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder) a First Edition?

The points of issue

• The first printing is not a standalone book but the ninth booklet of Brecht's ongoing 'Versuche' series: Heft 9, carrying the internal work-numbering 'Versuche 20/21', issued by Suhrkamp Verlag vormals S. Fischer, Berlin and Frankfurt am Main, 1949
• Contents are 'Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder (Eine Chronik aus dem Dreissigjaehrigen Krieg)' together with the essay 'Fuenf Schwierigkeiten beim Schreiben der Wahrheit' — a copy containing only the play is not this issue
• Collation runs roughly 95-110 pages in large octavo, issued in original card wrappers (Broschur/OKart) under an illustrated original wrapper
• There is no edition statement, printing statement, or number line: identification rests entirely on the 1949 Suhrkamp imprint combined with the 'Versuche 20/21 / Heft 9' designation on the wrapper and title page
• Standard German bibliographies record the first as Nubel A 176 (also cited in the trade as Seidel I, 7.9'1) — cite the Nubel number when describing a copy
• Paper stock varies: copies on a heavier white stock are recorded

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. 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.
4. Verify this is the US true first — not a later-market or reprint edition.
5. 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.
6. 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 German original has precedence over every translation; the census claim is correct as to publisher, city and year. Suhrkamp Verlag (vormals S. Fischer), Berlin/Frankfurt, 1949 = the true first. Correction to a common assumption: the Aufbau-Verlag, Berlin issues of Versuche Heft 9 are NOT a simultaneous East/West twin — they follow Suhrkamp at a remove, the earliest Aufbau Heft 9 recorded in the trade being 1952. Both editions are collected, but Suhrkamp 1949 is the first. On the English side, both the US and UK editions are collected and both are Eric Bentley's translation: the first English-language book appearance is in 'The Modern Theatre, Volume Two', ed./trans. Eric Bentley (Doubleday Anchor, Garden City, 1955), a paperback series volume; Methuen (London) issued the Bentley translation as a separate volume in 1962. Both are translations of a 1949 German first and are 'first thus', not firsts of the work.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club edition is documented for the German Versuche. The tells are later printings sharing the identical series designation: Suhrkamp reissues of Heft 9 dated 1950, 1956, 1957 and 1958 (the 1958 appearing in hardbound form), and Aufbau-Verlag, Berlin issues dated 1952, 1955, 1956 and 1961. Because every one of these repeats 'Versuche 20/21 / Heft 9' on the wrapper, the series number proves nothing — the imprint name and the date are the only points that separate a 1949 first from them. Grove Press and Methuen English-language reprints are separate editions entirely.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of Mother Courage and Her Children (Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder) a first edition?

A first edition of Mother Courage and Her Children (Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder) by Bertolt Brecht (Suhrkamp Verlag) is identified by: The first printing is not a standalone book but the ninth booklet of Brecht's ongoing 'Versuche' series: Heft 9, carrying the internal work-numbering 'Versuche 20/21', issued by Suhrkamp Verlag vormals S.

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). The German original has precedence over every translation; the census claim is correct as to publisher, city and year.

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

No book-club edition is documented for the German Versuche. The tells are later printings sharing the identical series designation: Suhrkamp reissues of Heft 9 dated 1950, 1956, 1957 and 1958 (the 1958 appearing in hardbound form), and Aufbau-Verlag, Berlin issues dated 1952, 1955, 1956 and 1961. Because every one of these repeats 'Versuche 20/21 / Heft 9' on the wrapper, the series number proves nothing — the imprint name and the date are the only points that separate a 1949 first from them. Gr

I have a first edition of Mother Courage and Her Children (Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder) — 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.