Publication of the first volume of Das Kapital by Karl Marx

Background. Das Kapital is a critique of political economy divided into three volumes. Only the first volume was published during Marx's lifetime, in 1867. The work focuses on the immediate process of production of capital. Marx had previously accumulated extensive notes, known as the Grundrisse, which he intended as a preview of the three-volume Das Kapital. By 1865–66, the structure had been modified to a four-volume work on capital, with the first three volumes corresponding to those later published and the fourth dedicated to the history of economic theory.

Publication Process. Marx delivered the German manuscript for Volume I to his publisher Otto Meissner in Hamburg in April 1867. The book was published in September. Meissner expected the next two volumes before the end of the year, a timeline Marx initially believed he could meet. However, his meticulous approach often led to delays, frustrating associates including Friedrich Engels, who had urged him for decades to finish the work.

Later Translations. The first English translation of Volume I was published in Britain in 1887, four years after Marx's death. It was translated by Samuel Moore and Edward Aveling and edited by Engels. Before this, work began in 1867 on a French translation, where five translators were tried and rejected before Marx approved Joseph Roy, a Bordeaux schoolteacher.