The first edition of the Kalevala was published in 1835.
Elias Lönnrot compiled the epic from Finnish, Karelian, and Ingrian oral poetry rather than composing it as an entirely new work. This first version is usually called the Old Kalevala. It contained 32 poems and 12,078 verses, and was issued in two volumes across 1835 and 1836.
The date can cause confusion because the expanded version most readers know today appeared in 1849. Called the New Kalevala, it contained 50 poems and 22,795 verses and became the standard form translated into other languages. Thus, 1849 is the date of the definitive expanded edition, not the first edition.
The 1835 publication helped establish Finnish-language literature and became important to Finnish cultural nationalism. Lönnrot continued collecting and revising traditional material after the first edition, which explains why the later text differs substantially from the original.