German study on WW1 literature

[Varese2002]

In 2008 a voluminous (850 pages) study on German language literature pusblished during 1914 till 1939 was published.

Schneider, Thomas F. 2008. Die Autoren und Bücher der deutschsprachigen Literatur zum Ersten Weltkrieg 1914 - 1939 ein bio-bibliographisches Handbuch. Göttingen: V & R Unipress. ISBN 9783899715026.

More on this book can be seen here.

The study covers all literature related to WW1 not necessarily being aviation oriented. In the introduction are statistics about the yearly title production on WW1 during the years 1914-1939.

An interesting table gives printing numbers for some titles. It is remarkable to find that Richthofen 'Der rote Kampflieger' (1917) did a total of 1.226.000 (!). The highest print of any WW1 title in the German language. Also high printings did -

• Plüschow (1916) - Die Abenteuer des Flieger von Tsingtao - 700.000

• Killinger (1917) - Die Abenteuer des Ostseefliegers - 420.000

• Zeppeline über England (1916) - 180.000

• Immelmann (1925) - Immelmann, der Adler von Lille - 150.000

In total the authors have amassed 6500 titles on WW1 during the period 1914-1939. Although a sizeable collection, the authors are not sure that this is everything ever published on WW1 in Germany during that period.

It is a sobering thought that copies from for instance Plüschow are sold for around 30 - 40 EUR. Most of these copies are then later prints like 1938. No idea what the pricing would be for a first print (1917). One wonders where all the 700.000 copies have gone

Cheers

Kees

[crankcase]

Kees,
Over a million 1917 rote kampffliegers? wow, and I thought the 1933 run was big. I join you in wondering where these have gone -- i only seem to come across the later edition.

here is the cover of the 1917 edition.
marcMvR book cover 1917.jpg

[Varese2002]

Originally Posted by crankcase

Kees,
Over a million 1917 rote kampffliegers? wow, and I thought the 1933 run was big. I join you in wondering where these have gone -- i only seem to come across the later edition.

here is the cover of the 1917 edition.
marcAttachment 14251

Hi Marc, apologies I was not exact enough. The stated number of 1.226.000 pieces of Rote Kampfflieger is the grand total printed during the period 1917-1939. The original (erste Auflage) from 1917 had of course a far lower print total.
Nowadays it will be almost impossible to get a first 1917 print on the second hand market, at any price The few remaining originals will be in libraries, musea and (a few) collectors. The rest of them have not made it till 2009.

Cheers

Kees

[vonSchaller]

I have (i guess) an original from 1917. It is a very tiny book in dimensions
4.13 x 6,46 inches. I bought it over ebay here in Germany. And i saw the same book several times on the german ebay. I also have some later reprints in which the death of MvR was also handled. But i don´t think that the original book is very rare. Here´s one example i found on ebay: http://cgi.ebay.de/Der-rote-Kampffli...d=p3286.c0.m14

[Varese2002]

Hi Armin, I think you are right. The original is probably not very rare, given the very high printed numbers. Probably more have survived then I thought. In the Ebay blurb the auctioner is of course writing about a rare piece fetching easily EUR 80.

My interest was more awakened by another book that reached a total print during 1917 - 1939 of 700.000 pieces.

Killinger, Erich Walter. 1917. Die Abenteuer des Ostseefliegers. Berlin: Ullstein. 184 pages. Ullstein Kriegsbücher - Band 24

This one can be easily bought by second hand booksellers for everything between EUR 5 till EUR 20, depending the condition. Do you know by the way why this book got these high prints during the period?

Cheers

Kees

[vonSchaller]

Originally Posted by Varese2002

Do you know by the way why this book got these high prints during the period?

Hello Kees,

i wondered that too but i really don´t know. Erich Killinger was not that famous in the period. But i guess it was some kind of propaganda too.

[Raineranton]

Servus,

Killinger was shot down over the Baltic Sea and came in Russian captivity. He then managed to escape and came back via China, Japan and the USA to Germany.

It is more an adventure-book.

Rainer

[Varese2002]

Thanks Rainer for the information. So adventure books also sold in big quantities then and now.

I searched somewhat on Erich Walter Killinger and found this thread from Aerodrome from 2002 here.

In 1934 another book of Killinger was published with probably the same story, somewhat elaborated.

Killinger, Erich Walter. 1934. Flucht um die Erde. Berlin: Ullstein. 225 pages

Cheers

Kees