Is My The Castle a First Edition?

The points of issue

• First printing of the German true first: 'Das Schloss', Kurt Wolff Verlag, Munich, 1926, with Max Brod's afterword
• Octavo, [vi] + 504 pp
• Publisher's blue cloth with printed paper labels to the spine and front board (labels are characteristically age-toned; spine label lettered in red); a scarcer issue in blue printed wrappers with a typographic cover label designed by Georg Salter is also recorded — both are publisher's issues and no priority between them is established
• About 1,500 copies were printed and the edition sold well short of that, which accounts for its scarcity
• The rare printed dust jacket carries Hermann Hesse's description of Kafka as 'König der deutschen Sprache'
• No printing statement or number line: identify by the Kurt Wolff Verlag imprint and the 1926 date

How to confirm the first-printing statement

Publishers stated first printings differently by era. The decisive tells are a printed “First Edition/First Printing” statement, a number line whose lowest number is 1 (Random House ends at 2), or a dated first printing with no later printings listed. Paste your copyright page into the number-line decoder.

How to verify your copy, step by step

1. Find the copyright page — the verso (back) of the title page.
2. Confirm the first-edition statement — look for “First Edition,” “First Printing,” or the publisher’s equivalent wording.
3. Read the number line — the lowest number is the printing. A line including 1 is a first printing (Random House deliberately ends at 2). Paste it into the decoder.
4. Verify this is the British true first — not a later-market or reprint edition.
5. Rule out a book-club edition — a blind-stamp on the rear board or a jacket with no printed price marks a book-club copy.
6. Photograph four things — the front cover, spine, title page, and copyright page — the standard record for identification.

The dust jacket

For a collectible first edition the dust jacket matters as much as the book. Confirm the jacket is present and unclipped — the printed price should still be at the corner of the flap (a clipped corner or a price-less flap can indicate a book-club issue). First-state jackets can differ from later ones in the cover art, blurbs, or review quotations; where a specific first-state jacket point is known for this title it is noted above.

Binding & format

Where multiple bindings exist, the hardcover trade issue is usually (but not always) the precedence copy — confirm against the points above. Later printings often show cheaper cloth, thinner boards, or simplified spine stamping. A simultaneous signed or limited issue, when one exists, is a distinct state from the trade first.

Is this the true first?

The German 'Das Schloss' (Kurt Wolff Verlag, Munich, 1926) is the true first edition. The census claim that Secker, London, 1930 PRECEDES Knopf, New York, 1930 is NOT confirmed and is corrected here: dealers citing the standard Kafka bibliography (Angel Flores, cited as 'Flores, 15') record the Knopf first English translation as 'published simultaneously with the British edition'. Both 1930 English firsts carry the Willa and Edwin Muir translation with an introduction by Edwin Muir, and both are collected: Martin Secker, London, 1930 (note the imprint is Martin Secker — not Secker & Warburg, which did not exist until 1936; the frequent 'Secker & Warburg 1930' attribution, including on Wikipedia, is an anachronism) and Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1930, in publisher's grey cloth stamped in black and blue with a grey top-edge stain. No precedence should be asserted between the two English editions.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club issue of the 1926 Kurt Wolff first is documented; the cloth-with-labels and printed-wrappers states are publisher's issues, not club issues. For the English text the traps are 'first thus': later Secker, Secker & Warburg, Knopf, Modern Library and Schocken printings of the Muir translation, editions incorporating Brod's additional material, and the later re-translations (Harman, Underwood, Bell) are separate editions rather than printings of the 1930 firsts. A rebound copy lacking the original cloth and labels cannot be authenticated on binding evidence and must be identified from the imprint and date alone.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Castle a first edition?

A first edition of The Castle by Franz Kafka (Kurt Wolff Verlag) is identified by: First printing of the German true first: 'Das Schloss', Kurt Wolff Verlag, Munich, 1926, with Max Brod's afterword.

How do I tell the first printing from a later one?

Check the copyright page. A number line whose lowest number is 1 marks a first printing (Random House ends at 2). The German 'Das Schloss' (Kurt Wolff Verlag, Munich, 1926) is the true first edition.

Is the book-club edition the same as the first?

No book-club issue of the 1926 Kurt Wolff first is documented; the cloth-with-labels and printed-wrappers states are publisher's issues, not club issues. For the English text the traps are 'first thus': later Secker, Secker & Warburg, Knopf, Modern Library and Schocken printings of the Muir translation, editions incorporating Brod's additional material, and the later re-translations (Harman, Underwood, Bell) are separate editions rather than printings of the 1930 firsts. A rebound copy lacking t

I have a first edition of The Castle — what should I do?

First, document the copy: photograph the copyright page (the number line and any edition statement) and the dust-jacket flap — an unclipped, priced jacket matters. Confirm the points of issue above against your copy, and use the free First Edition Checker to decode the printing. To sell, the author’s collecting guide covers the market. And if you are clearing books in the Albuquerque area, the New Mexico Literacy Project offers free pickup, any condition, and makes sure collectible copies are identified rather than discarded.

Glossary

First edition

Every copy printed from the first setting of type. Collectors usually want the first edition, first printing (the true first).

First printing / impression

A single press run from that setting. The first printing is the earliest and most desirable; later printings are still the first edition but not the true first.

Number line (printer's key)

A row of numbers on the copyright page (e.g. 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1). The lowest number present is the printing — a line including 1 marks a first printing (Random House deliberately ends at 2).

Points of issue

Specific physical details — a stated edition, a number line, a typo, a jacket state — that identify the true first printing.

Book-club edition (BCE)

A reprint made for a book club. Tells include a blind-stamped dot or square on the rear board and a dust jacket with no printed price. Not the true first.

First thus

The first appearance of a particular version (first paperback, first illustrated, first U.S. printing) — a first of that kind, not the first edition of the work.