K.M. arrived at the Hotel Kreuzer, Bad Wörishofen, the original of The German Pension, on 4 June 1909, and it was while moving a trunk from the top of a cupboard in the pension that she hurt herself and soon after had a miscarriage. In mid-September she took lodgings at Kaufbeuer Strasse 9, not leaving Wörishofen, where she had a love affair with Floryan Sobieniowski, until the end of 1909. She received a 15 pound advance for this first novel which was published by Stephen Swift in time for Christmas, 1911. Kirkpatrick states that the first, second and third impressions of the first edition were printed in runs of around 500 copies each. The author refused to let the book be reprinted in her lifetime, and it "appears to have been scarce as early as 1923."