Marx, Karl | The first English-language edition printed in the United States of Das Kapital

Marx, Karl

Capital: A Critical Analysis of Capitalist Production. New York: The Humboldt Publishing Co., [circa. 1891]

8vo (229 x 143 mm). Publisher's red cloth, covers ruled with Humboldt Library emblem stamped in black on upper board and blind on lower board, spine gilt-lettered with black rules.

An early and rare issue of the first English-language edition printed in the United States of Das Kapital — an apparent bind-up of Humboldt's original four-part issue in wraps.

One of the most important and influential works of modern times, Marx's Capital is an incisive critique of private property, capitalism, and the social relations it creates. The Humboldt Publishing Company, a small left-wing publisher, first issued this work in four parts between September and October 1890 in the "Humboldt Library of Science" publication. The following year, they bound the four installments together and released a single volume (present here) without the permission of Marx's family, Friedrich Engels, or the European publishers.

This copy is bound without advertisements, which accompanied the original parts. The text comprises Moore and Aveling's translation of the first volume of Das Kapital, Marx's prefaces to the first and second editions, and Engels' preface to the first English edition.

REFERENCE

Cf. PMM 359 (first edition); Martinek, Socialism and Print Culture in America, 1897-1920