Summary

Among the differences between the first edition of Capital I and subsequent editions is that the crucially important “value-form” presentation, which forms the third section of the first chapter in subsequent editions, appears as an appendix to the volume, rather than being integrated into the main text. In fact, it was not Marx’s original intention to include this in the volume at all; it was only at the stage of the checking of the final printer’s proofs that Marx decided to write, and include, the “value-form” appendix. It is at first sight unclear whose idea the writing of the appendix was: Marx credits his friend Louis Kugelmann, with whom he was staying in Germany when the proofs were being prepared, in the Afterword to the second edition, although it is also clear from his correspondence that Engels too was unhappy with the original textual presentation of the value-form. The evidence in fact seems to suggest that in some way Marx followed the advice of both men—Engels and Kugelmann—when, right at the very last minute, he set himself to write the appendix.

More (pdf, 162 KB): The Origin of the Value-Form Appendix in the First Edition of Capital I