# Is "The Man Without Qualities" by Robert Musil a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Man Without Qualities by Robert Musil (Ernst Rowohlt Verlag, Berlin, 1930) is identified by: German true first: Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften, Ernst Rowohlt Verlag, Berlin — vol. German true first Rowohlt, Berlin (1930/1933; vol.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- German true first: Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften, Ernst Rowohlt Verlag, Berlin — vol
- 1 (Books I-II) 1930 and vol
- 2 (Book III) 1933; the unfinished third volume was published posthumously at Lausanne in 1943 under Martha Musil's editorship
- The first English translation (Eithne Wilkins & Ernst Kaiser) is the three-volume Secker & Warburg, London set (vol
- 1 1953, vol
- 2 1954, vol
- Publisher imprint reads Ernst Rowohlt Verlag, Berlin

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Robert Musil |
| Publisher | Ernst Rowohlt Verlag, Berlin |
| Year | 1930 |
| True first | UK edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | German true first: Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften, Ernst Rowohlt Verlag, Berlin — vol |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
German true first: Der Mann ohne Eigenschaften, Ernst Rowohlt Verlag, Berlin — vol. 1 (Books I-II) 1930 and vol. 2 (Book III) 1933; the unfinished third volume was published posthumously at Lausanne in 1943 under Martha Musil's editorship. The first English translation (Eithne Wilkins & Ernst Kaiser) is the three-volume Secker & Warburg, London set (vol. 1 1953, vol. 2 1954, vol. 3 1960), which precedes the New York Coward-McCann issue; a dealer bibliography states the Secker set 'precedes the American edition.' Identify the English first by the Secker & Warburg imprint and matched volume dates.

## Is this the true first?
German true first Rowohlt, Berlin (1930/1933; vol. 3 posthumous, Lausanne, 1943). For English, Secker & Warburg, London (1953-1960) precedes Coward-McCann, New York — UK precedes US; both use the Wilkins & Kaiser translation.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
The 1995 Sophie Wilkins/Burton Pike Knopf translation is a later re-translation ('first thus'), and Picador/Vintage paperbacks are reprints — none is the first English edition.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Man Without Qualities* by Robert Musil a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-man-without-qualities
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.