# Is "The Origins of Totalitarianism" by Hannah Arendt a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Origins of Totalitarianism by Hannah Arendt (Harcourt, Brace and Company, 1951) is identified by: Cloth; copyright page dated 1951 with no later-printing or revised-edition statement; first-state dust jacket priced. US Harcourt, Brace and Company (New York), 1951, is the first appearance under the title 'The Origins of Totalitarianism.' The British Secker & Warburg edition, also 1951, carries the variant title 'The Burden of Our Time'; exact month-level precedence between the two 1951 issues is debated, so collectors treat them as a title variant rather than asserting one over the other.

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- Cloth; copyright page dated 1951 with no later-printing or revised-edition statement; first-state dust jacket priced
- The text was published in Britain under the variant title 'The Burden of Our Time.'
- Publisher imprint reads Harcourt, Brace and Company
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Hannah Arendt |
| Publisher | Harcourt, Brace and Company |
| Year | 1951 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | Cloth; copyright page dated 1951 with no later-printing or revised-edition statement; first-state dust jacket priced |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
Cloth; copyright page dated 1951 with no later-printing or revised-edition statement; first-state dust jacket priced. The text was published in Britain under the variant title 'The Burden of Our Time.'

## Is this the true first?
US Harcourt, Brace and Company (New York), 1951, is the first appearance under the title 'The Origins of Totalitarianism.' The British Secker & Warburg edition, also 1951, carries the variant title 'The Burden of Our Time'; exact month-level precedence between the two 1951 issues is debated, so collectors treat them as a title variant rather than asserting one over the other. Later revised and enlarged editions are 'first thus.'

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Multiple revised and enlarged editions exist (notably 1958 and 1966/1968); the 1951 first lacks any revision or added-section statement.

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Origins of Totalitarianism* by Hannah Arendt a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-origins-of-totalitarianism
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.