Is My The Reader (Der Vorleser) a First Edition?

The points of issue

• German true first: Diogenes Verlag AG, Zurich, 1995, hardcover in original cloth (olive-green linen recorded) with the colour-illustrated original jacket reproducing a detail of Ernst Ludwig Kirchner's 'Nollendorfplatz'
• ISBN 3-257-06065-3, 206 pp
• The copyright page reads 'Copyright (c) 1995 Diogenes Verlag AG Zurich' and states the Auflage, and it is the stated Auflage — not the 1995 date — that identifies the impression: further Auflagen were printed within 1995 itself (a signed 'Vierte Auflage, im Jahr der Erstausgabe' hardcover is recorded in the trade), so a 1995 title page alone proves nothing
• Diogenes also prints a slash-separated code on the copyright page (e.g
• 500/02/8/33 on a 2002 printing of the 33rd Auflage), in which the final group is the impression number; a first printing must show the first Auflage
• First English (Carol Brown Janeway's translation): Pantheon Books, New York, 1997, ISBN 0-679-44269-0, 218 pp., black boards with white spine lettering; the first printing has 'First American Edition' stated on the copyright page together with a full number line to 1 (10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1), in a priced jacket with the price present at the flap

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 American 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?

Census claim confirmed. The German edition is the true first — Der Vorleser, Diogenes Verlag, Zurich, 1995 — and any English 'first edition' is a translation two years later. Both 1997 English editions use Carol Brown Janeway's translation and both are collected: Pantheon Books, New York, is the first American edition and is generally accorded precedence within 1997, with Phoenix House, London, the first UK edition. Priority between the two is a publication-date question rather than a textual one; the honest formulation is 'first American' or 'first UK', not an unqualified 'first in English'.

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

The dominant trap is not a book club but a paperback: the ubiquitous Diogenes Taschenbuch, ISBN 3-257-22953-4, is a 1997 reprint whose own colophon states 'Die Erstausgabe erschien 1995 im Diogenes Verlag' — it is not the first edition, and copies of it are frequently offered as though the 1995 copyright line made them one. In the US, the February 1999 Oprah's Book Club selection generated later Pantheon printings and jackets bearing the Oprah's Book Club logo; a logo on the jacket front rules out a 1997 first printing outright, and book-club hardcovers of the Pantheon edition circulate alongside them. Vintage International paperbacks (1999 onward) are reprints.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Reader (Der Vorleser) a first edition?

A first edition of The Reader (Der Vorleser) by Bernhard Schlink (Diogenes Verlag AG, Zurich) is identified by: German true first: Diogenes Verlag AG, Zurich, 1995, hardcover in original cloth (olive-green linen recorded) with the colour-illustrated original jacket reproducing a detail of Ernst Ludwig Kirchner's 'Nollendorfplatz' (1912); ISBN 3-257-06065-3, 206 pp.

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). Census claim confirmed.

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

The dominant trap is not a book club but a paperback: the ubiquitous Diogenes Taschenbuch, ISBN 3-257-22953-4, is a 1997 reprint whose own colophon states 'Die Erstausgabe erschien 1995 im Diogenes Verlag' — it is not the first edition, and copies of it are frequently offered as though the 1995 copyright line made them one. In the US, the February 1999 Oprah's Book Club selection generated later Pantheon printings and jackets bearing the Oprah's Book Club logo; a logo on the jacket front rules o

I have a first edition of The Reader (Der Vorleser) — 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.