Is My The Swiss Family Robinson (Der Schweizerische Robinson) a First Edition?

The points of issue

• The true first is the German: "Der schweizerische Robinson, oder der schiffbrüchige Schweizer-Prediger und seine Familie," Zurich: Orell, Füssli und Compagnie, volume 1 dated 1812 and volume 2 dated 1813, edited and adapted by Johann Rudolf Wyss from his father Johann David Wyss's manuscript
• Critical refinement to the census claim: the 1812-13 pair carries only about half the manuscript
• Volumes 3 and 4 followed in 1826 and 1827, so the complete German text spans 1812-27, and a two-volume 1812-13 set is a first edition of a half-finished work rather than of the novel as it is now known
• The first English is London: M.J. Godwin & Co
• (the Juvenile Library), 1814, and it is not titled The Swiss Family Robinson — it is "The Family Robinson Crusoe: or, Journal of a Father Shipwrecked, with his Wife and Children, on an Uninhabited Island." Illustrated with a frontispiece and three plates engraved by Springsguth and Dadley after Henry Corbould, and issued in publisher's paper-covered boards, exceptionally scarce so preserved
• Two issues of the 1814 English are recorded: a two-volume issue, and a single-volume issue with continuous pagination reset from the same standing type, the single-volume issue described as the subsequent one

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. 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.
5. 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?

Zurich 1812-13 (German) is the true first and the census claim is confirmed on that point, but the English precedence note needs correcting in two respects. The 1814 M.J. Godwin English is not translated from the German at all: it derives entirely from Isabelle de Montolieu's French adaptation, "Le Robinson suisse, ou journal d'un père de famille naufragé avec ses enfans," Paris: Arthus Bertrand, 1814, in four volumes. The evidence is internal — the English chapter divisions match the French (thirty-six chapters against the German's twenty-eight), the author's name is given in the French form "Wiss," and the German subtitle describing the father as a preacher is dropped. Translation is conjecturally attributed to William Godwin and/or Mary Jane Clairmont, but the attribution is disputed and should not be stated as fact. The English continuation appeared in 1816, and the title "The Swiss Family Robinson" was first adopted only in 1818. So three editions are separately collected: the Zurich German first (1812-13), the Montolieu French (1814), and the Godwin English (1814).

Telling it from reprints & book-club editions

No book-club edition at this date. The dominant trap here is not book clubs but "first thus": texts differ substantially across every early edition in all three languages, and virtually every later English "Swiss Family Robinson" from 1818 onward is either a reprint or a fresh adaptation with chapters added, cut, or rewritten — the novel has no stable text. Any English copy titled "The Swiss Family Robinson" is by definition 1818 or later and cannot be the first English. Any German copy carrying volumes 3-4 or dated 1826-27 is the continuation, not the 1812-13 first.

Frequently asked questions

Is my copy of The Swiss Family Robinson (Der Schweizerische Robinson) a first edition?

A first edition of The Swiss Family Robinson (Der Schweizerische Robinson) by Johann David Wyss (ed. Johann Rudolf Wyss) (Orell, Füssli und Compagnie, Zurich) is identified by: The true first is the German: "Der schweizerische Robinson, oder der schiffbrüchige Schweizer-Prediger und seine Familie," Zurich: Orell, Füssli und Compagnie, volume 1 dated 1812 and volume 2 dated 1813, edited and adapted by Johann Rudolf Wyss from his father Johann David Wyss's manuscript.

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). Zurich 1812-13 (German) is the true first and the census claim is confirmed on that point, but the English precedence note needs correcting in two respects.

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

No book-club edition at this date. The dominant trap here is not book clubs but "first thus": texts differ substantially across every early edition in all three languages, and virtually every later English "Swiss Family Robinson" from 1818 onward is either a reprint or a fresh adaptation with chapters added, cut, or rewritten — the novel has no stable text. Any English copy titled "The Swiss Family Robinson" is by definition 1818 or later and cannot be the first English. Any German copy carrying

I have a first edition of The Swiss Family Robinson (Der Schweizerische Robinson) — 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.