Abstract
The author shows why the historical-critical editions of Capital Volume I in the MEGA2 make it necessary to revisit former German text editions of this fundamental work. He makes clear that the complete set of these editions is the indispensable starting point for a new(German)text edition. The following topics are treated in the paper: 1. Engels'inevitable misinterpretation of the entries Marx made in his personal copies of Capital Vol. I; opposite evaluations of the French edition by Marx and Engels; Marx's changing ideas about future translations as a combination of two editions, i. e., the second German one and the French one. 2. Previous discussions about Engels' fourth German edition; plans for its revision, esp. by Valerie(Wally) Kropp and Kurt Nixdorf, and their stoppage. 3. Advantages and disadvantages of the French edition compared with the second German edition. 4. Some consequences of the fact that Marx quoted rather often from memory; how Engels treated the problem differently in his English translation and his fourth German edition. 5. The different features of the planned text edition in comparison with the historical-critical editions in MEGA^2. The exposition includes many quotations and some illustrative examples.
