# Is "Requiem (Rekviem)" by Anna Akhmatova a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Requiem (Rekviem) by Anna Akhmatova (Tovarishchestvo zarubezhnykh pisatelei, 1963) is identified by: The true first is the Russian-language Munich printing of 1963: a slim small octavo of 23 pages (roughly 19.2-19.7 x 14.2-14.5 cm) in publisher's typeset, French-folded printed wrappers, with a phototype portrait frontispiece of Akhmatova after Savely Sorin. Russian is the original language and the Munich 1963 emigre printing is the true first in any language — the text was smuggled out of the USSR and set abroad.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- The true first is the Russian-language Munich printing of 1963: a slim small octavo of 23 pages (roughly 19.2-19.7 x 14.2-14.5 cm) in publisher's typeset, French-folded printed wrappers, with a phototype portrait frontispiece of Akhmatova after Savely Sorin
- The single decisive point is textual rather than typographic: the book itself carries a printed statement that the cycle was published without the author's knowledge and consent, and dealer and auction descriptions of the 1963 sheets record that statement at the copyright
- The first edition prints Akhmatova's own brief prefatory note and carries NO editorial afterword — any copy with an afterword is a later issue
- Two independent ABAA/dealer descriptions and one auction catalogue agree on a limitation of 500 copies; the census claim (Munich, 1963, emigre-first, no Soviet edition until 1987) is confirmed as stated
- Publisher imprint reads Tovarishchestvo zarubezhnykh pisatelei
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Anna Akhmatova |
| Publisher | Tovarishchestvo zarubezhnykh pisatelei |
| Year | 1963 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Poetry |
| Key point | The true first is the Russian-language Munich printing of 1963: a slim small octavo of 23 pages (roughly 19.2-19.7 x 14.2-14.5 cm) in… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
The true first is the Russian-language Munich printing of 1963: a slim small octavo of 23 pages (roughly 19.2-19.7 x 14.2-14.5 cm) in publisher's typeset, French-folded printed wrappers, with a phototype portrait frontispiece of Akhmatova after Savely Sorin. The single decisive point is textual rather than typographic: the book itself carries a printed statement that the cycle was published without the author's knowledge and consent, and dealer and auction descriptions of the 1963 sheets record that statement at the copyright. The first edition prints Akhmatova's own brief prefatory note and carries NO editorial afterword — any copy with an afterword is a later issue. Two independent ABAA/dealer descriptions and one auction catalogue agree on a limitation of 500 copies; the census claim (Munich, 1963, emigre-first, no Soviet edition until 1987) is confirmed as stated.

## Is this the true first?
Russian is the original language and the Munich 1963 emigre printing is the true first in any language — the text was smuggled out of the USSR and set abroad. There is no competing UK or US first of the Russian text, and no Soviet edition of the complete cycle appeared until 1987, so the collected first is the Munich sheets alone; later Soviet and Western printings are reprints, not rival firsts. English translations are all subsequent and derivative.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No book-club issue is documented. The reprint trap is the same emigre imprint's own later issues: a 1969 printing and a 1974 'third stereotype edition' carrying an afterword by Gleb Struve. Any copy describing itself as a stereotype edition, or containing the Struve afterword, is not the 1963 first even though the publisher's name and city are unchanged.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Requiem (Rekviem)* by Anna Akhmatova a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/requiem-rekviem
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.