# Is "Mother Courage and Her Children (Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder)" by Bertolt Brecht a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Mother Courage and Her Children (Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder) by Bertolt Brecht (Suhrkamp Verlag, 1949) 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. The German original has precedence over every translation; the census claim is correct as to publisher, city and year.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- 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
- Publisher imprint reads Suhrkamp Verlag

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Bertolt Brecht |
| Publisher | Suhrkamp Verlag |
| Year | 1949 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Poetry |
| Key point | The first printing is not a standalone book but the ninth booklet of Brecht's ongoing 'Versuche' series: Heft 9, carrying the internal… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## 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. Some copies contain a cast-list leaf from the Deutsches Theater Berlin production (premiered 11 January 1949).

## 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.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Mother Courage and Her Children (Mutter Courage und ihre Kinder)* by Bertolt Brecht a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/mother-courage-and-her-children-mutter-courage-und-ihre-kind
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.