# Is "The Brothers Karamazov (Brat'ya Karamazovy)" by Fyodor Dostoevsky a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Brothers Karamazov (Brat'ya Karamazovy) by Fyodor Dostoevsky (Bratya Panteleevy, 1881) is identified by: True first appearance: serially in Russkii Vestnik (The Russian Messenger), January 1879 – November 1880. CENSUS CORRECTED.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- True first appearance: serially in Russkii Vestnik (The Russian Messenger), January 1879 – November 1880
- First edition in book form: Panteleev Brothers, St
- Petersburg, title-dated 1881 but actually released December 1880, in two volumes, text in Russian Cyrillic, paginated 509 and 699 pp
- The half-titles are the key point — they are present in the first edition and are frequently absent from surviving copies, so a complete set retains both
- Commonly encountered in contemporary Russian trade bindings of quarter calf over pebble-grain black cloth sides, spines lettered in gilt in Cyrillic, often with owner's initials at the spine foot; publisher's wrappers are rare
- The first edition sold out quickly, and Dostoevsky died weeks after publication
- Publisher imprint reads Bratya Panteleevy

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Fyodor Dostoevsky |
| Publisher | Bratya Panteleevy |
| Year | 1881 |
| True first | — |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | True first appearance: serially in Russkii Vestnik (The Russian Messenger), January 1879 – November 1880 |
| Book-club edition exists? | Yes |

## Points of issue
True first appearance: serially in Russkii Vestnik (The Russian Messenger), January 1879 – November 1880. First edition in book form: Panteleev Brothers, St. Petersburg, title-dated 1881 but actually released December 1880, in two volumes, text in Russian Cyrillic, paginated 509 and 699 pp. The half-titles are the key point — they are present in the first edition and are frequently absent from surviving copies, so a complete set retains both. Commonly encountered in contemporary Russian trade bindings of quarter calf over pebble-grain black cloth sides, spines lettered in gilt in Cyrillic, often with owner's initials at the spine foot; publisher's wrappers are rare. The first edition sold out quickly, and Dostoevsky died weeks after publication.

## Is this the true first?
CENSUS CORRECTED. The census gives the first book edition as Moscow; it is St. Petersburg, published by the Panteleev Brothers, 1881 (released December 1880). The Russkii Vestnik serial (1879–80) was the Moscow journal in which the novel first appeared, which is likely the source of the census's city error. The first English-language edition is Constance Garnett's translation, William Heinemann, London, 1912 — the first book in her series 'The Novels of Fyodor Dostoevsky' — in a single octavo volume, original full red cloth, blind-stamped central ornament, gilt-stamped ornamental spine lettered THE NOVELS / OF / FIODOR / MICHAEILOWITCH / DOSTOEVSKY / THE / BROTHERS / KARAMAZOV / HEINEMANN, bottom edge uncut. At least three Heinemann binding variants are recorded with no priority established, including copies bearing the imprint of Henry Frowde on the spine while retaining the Heinemann blind-stamp to the lower board. Both the Russian 1881 first and the Heinemann 1912 first-in-English are collected.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
The significant reprint tell on the English side: the American edition (Macmillan) was made up from the British Heinemann sheets with a cancelled title page, and is the more commonly encountered of the two — check whether the title leaf is a cancel (a stub or uneven conjugacy at the title) before treating a copy as the London first. Garnett's translation was reprinted continuously through the 20th century and is the text behind most later trade, book-club, and Everyman/Modern Library issues, all of which are 'first thus' at best.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Brothers Karamazov (Brat'ya Karamazovy)* by Fyodor Dostoevsky a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-brothers-karamazov-bratya-karamazovy
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.