# Is "The Radetzky March" by Joseph Roth a First Edition?

> **Quick answer.** A first edition of The Radetzky March by Joseph Roth (Gustav Kiepenheuer Verlag, Berlin, 1932) is identified by: German true first: Radetzkymarsch, Gustav Kiepenheuer Verlag, Berlin, 1932 (note: the frequently seen 'Kiepenheuer & Witsch' attribution is anachronistic — that Cologne house did not exist until 1949). German true first (Kiepenheuer, Berlin, 1932).

**Checklist — a true first has these:**
- German true first: Radetzkymarsch, Gustav Kiepenheuer Verlag, Berlin, 1932 (note: the frequently seen 'Kiepenheuer & Witsch' attribution is anachronistic — that Cologne house did not exist until 1949)
- The first English edition is Geoffrey Dunlop's translation, The Viking Press, New York, 1933, which precedes the first UK edition (William Heinemann, London, 1934, in green cloth)
- Granular first-issue binding/jacket points for the Viking printing are not documented in the sources consulted, so identify the English first by publisher, year, and the Dunlop translation
- The widely read Michael Hofmann translation (1990s) is a later 'first thus,' not the first edition
- Publisher imprint reads Gustav Kiepenheuer Verlag, Berlin
- Not a book-club edition (see below)

| | |
|---|---|
| Author | Joseph Roth |
| Publisher | Gustav Kiepenheuer Verlag, Berlin |
| Year | 1932 |
| True first | US edition |
| Format | Hardcover (trade) |
| Key point | German true first: Radetzkymarsch, Gustav Kiepenheuer Verlag, Berlin, 1932 (note: the frequently seen 'Kiepenheuer & Witsch' attribution is… |
| Book-club edition exists? | — |

## Points of issue
German true first: Radetzkymarsch, Gustav Kiepenheuer Verlag, Berlin, 1932 (note: the frequently seen 'Kiepenheuer & Witsch' attribution is anachronistic — that Cologne house did not exist until 1949). The first English edition is Geoffrey Dunlop's translation, The Viking Press, New York, 1933, which precedes the first UK edition (William Heinemann, London, 1934, in green cloth). Granular first-issue binding/jacket points for the Viking printing are not documented in the sources consulted, so identify the English first by publisher, year, and the Dunlop translation. The widely read Michael Hofmann translation (1990s) is a later 'first thus,' not the first edition.

## Is this the true first?
German true first (Kiepenheuer, Berlin, 1932). For English, the US edition (Viking, New York, 1933) precedes the UK edition (Heinemann, London, 1934) — US precedes UK; both use the Dunlop translation.

## Telling it from reprints & book-club editions
Overlook Press (Woodstock, NY, 1974) revived the Dunlop translation as a later reprint; the 1990s Hofmann translation is a separately published re-translation ('first thus').

## Source
New Mexico Literacy Project — Is *The Radetzky March* by Joseph Roth a first edition? https://newmexicoliteracyproject.org/first-edition/the-radetzky-march
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.