# Is "Seven Years in Tibet (Sieben Jahre in Tibet)" by Heinrich Harrer a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of Seven Years in Tibet (Sieben Jahre in Tibet) by Heinrich Harrer (Ullstein, 1952) is identified by: The true first is the German 'Sieben Jahre in Tibet,' Verlag Ullstein, 1952 (the scholarly Journal of Asian Studies review cites 'Wien'/Vienna; note that some catalogue entries give Ullstein's historic Berlin imprint, so the city of issue carries a Vienna/Berlin ambiguity, and reported collations range around 267–309 pp.). German Ullstein (1952) is the true first of the work.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- The true first is the German 'Sieben Jahre in Tibet,' Verlag Ullstein, 1952 (the scholarly Journal of Asian Studies review cites 'Wien'/Vienna; note that some catalogue entries give Ullstein's historic Berlin imprint, so the city of issue carries a Vienna/Berlin ambiguity, and reported collations range around 267–309 pp.)
- The first English edition is 'Seven Years in Tibet,' Rupert Hart-Davis, London, 1953, translated by Richard Graves with an introduction by Peter Fleming: original dark blue cloth lettered in gilt on the spine, colour frontispiece, a double-page map, and monochrome photographic plates (about 288 pp.), in a pictorial dust jacket with the price present at the flap
- The first U.S. edition is E.P. Dutton, New York, 1954 (black and orange cloth, priced jacket on the front flap)
- Publisher imprint reads Ullstein
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Heinrich Harrer |
| Publisher | Ullstein |
| Year | 1952 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | The true first is the German 'Sieben Jahre in Tibet,' Verlag Ullstein, 1952 (the scholarly Journal of Asian Studies review cites… |
| Book-club edition exists? | No |

## Points of issue
The true first is the German 'Sieben Jahre in Tibet,' Verlag Ullstein, 1952 (the scholarly Journal of Asian Studies review cites 'Wien'/Vienna; note that some catalogue entries give Ullstein's historic Berlin imprint, so the city of issue carries a Vienna/Berlin ambiguity, and reported collations range around 267–309 pp.). The first English edition is 'Seven Years in Tibet,' Rupert Hart-Davis, London, 1953, translated by Richard Graves with an introduction by Peter Fleming: original dark blue cloth lettered in gilt on the spine, colour frontispiece, a double-page map, and monochrome photographic plates (about 288 pp.), in a pictorial dust jacket with the price present at the flap. The first U.S. edition is E.P. Dutton, New York, 1954 (black and orange cloth, priced jacket on the front flap).

## Is this the true first?
German Ullstein (1952) is the true first of the work. The first English-language edition is Rupert Hart-Davis (London), 1953, which precedes the E.P. Dutton (New York) 1954 U.S. edition by a year; the Hart-Davis printing is the collected English first.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
No specific book-club issue tell documented in the sources consulted; later reprints of the English text are common and should be checked against the 1953 Hart-Davis first-impression statement.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *Seven Years in Tibet (Sieben Jahre in Tibet)* by Heinrich Harrer a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/seven-years-in-tibet-sieben-jahre-in-tibet
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.