# Is "Phänomenologie des Geistes (Phenomenology of Spirit)" by G.W.F. Hegel a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Phänomenologie des Geistes (Phenomenology of Spirit) by G.W.F. Hegel (Joseph Anton Goebhardt, Bamberg and Würzburg, 1807) is identified by: The first edition is the octavo published by Joseph Anton Goebhardt at Bamberg and Würzburg in 1807, titled on the title page "System der Wissenschaft. The Bamberg/Würzburg German edition of 1807 is the true first, and the census claim is confirmed.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- The first edition is the octavo published by Joseph Anton Goebhardt at Bamberg and Würzburg in 1807, titled on the title page "System der Wissenschaft
- Erster Theil, die Phänomenologie des Geistes" — the work is catalogued under that title, not under "Phänomenologie des Geistes" alone
- The edition ran to roughly 750 copies and was released in April 1807; it exists in two issues distinguished by leaf A1
- The first issue carries the subtitle "Erster Theil
- Wissenschaft der Erfahrung des Bewusstseyns"; at Hegel's own request that leaf was replaced during production by a cancel reading "I. Wissenschaft der Phänomenologie des Geistes," which constitutes the second issue
- Both issues fall within the same 750-copy first edition, so a cancel copy is still a first edition — only the issue changes
- Publisher imprint reads Joseph Anton Goebhardt, Bamberg and Würzburg

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | G.W.F. Hegel |
| Publisher | Joseph Anton Goebhardt, Bamberg and Würzburg |
| Year | 1807 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | The first edition is the octavo published by Joseph Anton Goebhardt at Bamberg and Würzburg in 1807, titled on the title page "System der… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
The first edition is the octavo published by Joseph Anton Goebhardt at Bamberg and Würzburg in 1807, titled on the title page "System der Wissenschaft. Erster Theil, die Phänomenologie des Geistes" — the work is catalogued under that title, not under "Phänomenologie des Geistes" alone. The edition ran to roughly 750 copies and was released in April 1807; it exists in two issues distinguished by leaf A1. The first issue carries the subtitle "Erster Theil. Wissenschaft der Erfahrung des Bewusstseyns"; at Hegel's own request that leaf was replaced during production by a cancel reading "I. Wissenschaft der Phänomenologie des Geistes," which constitutes the second issue. Both issues fall within the same 750-copy first edition, so a cancel copy is still a first edition — only the issue changes. Complete copies retain the final advertisement leaf. As with German trade printing of the period there is no edition statement and no number line: identification rests entirely on the Goebhardt imprint, the 1807 date, and the A1 reading. Recorded bindings are contemporary interim marbled boards (often rebacked) and original wrappers, uncut; measurements of about 202 x 114 mm are recorded.

## Is this the true first?
The Bamberg/Würzburg German edition of 1807 is the true first, and the census claim is confirmed. There is no competing English first of the period: the first complete English translation is J.B. Baillie's "The Phenomenology of Mind," London: Swan Sonnenschein & Co., Limited / New York: The Macmillan Company, 1910, in two volumes in the Library of Philosophy series, with a revised second edition following in 1931 (Allen & Unwin / Macmillan). The 1807 German is therefore the only nineteenth-century collectible form of the text, and the 1910 Baillie is the collected English first for translation collectors. Note the standing "first thus" trap: Baillie 1931, and every later English version (Miller 1977, Pinkard 2018), is a new translation or revision, not a reissue.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club involvement — the title predates that trade entirely. The reprint tells are imprint-based: Hegel contracted with Duncker & Humblot shortly before his death for a revised second edition, and the Phenomenology duly appeared at Berlin from Duncker & Humblot in 1832 as part of the posthumous collected Werke (an 18-volume set issued 1832-45), followed by a further edition in 1841. Any Berlin imprint, any Duncker & Humblot imprint, any "Zweite Auflage" statement, and the later Lasson and Meiner (Philosophische Bibliothek) scholarly editions are all later and not the 1807. A copy dated 1807 but lacking the Goebhardt imprint should be treated as suspect.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Phänomenologie des Geistes (Phenomenology of Spirit)* by G.W.F. Hegel a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/ph-nomenologie-des-geistes-phenomenology-of-spirit
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.