KAFKA, FranzBiblio.com
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1913réf. 191336Leipzig: Kurt Wolff 1913. The story born from his abandoned initial novel First edition of The Stoker the only part of his first novel published during Kafka's lifetime. Believing that "of the entire book only the first chapter stems from an inner truth" Letters p. 218 the author abandoned the novel and issued its introduction here as a separate story. The complete work was edited posthumously by Max Brod as Amerika 1927. Inspired by Dickens the story is unusually optimistic for the period in which Kafka also wrote The Metamorphosis and The Judgment. Octavo. Frontispiece illustrating New York harbour. Text in German. Original japon-backed blue boards spine and front cover lettered in black publisher's device on front cover top edge blue. Pencilled ownership inscription on front free endpaper. Spine and head of front cover toned couple of marks to binding spot of wear to one corner. A very good copy. Franz Kafka Letters to Felice 1973. hardcover
1937réf. 140948920New York: Alfred A. Knopf 1937. First American Edition. Near Fine/Near Fine. First American edition stated first printing. Bound in publisher's rust-colored cloth over semi-flexible boards with stamped in blue and black blue topstain. Near Fine with lean to binding light foxing to text block edges offsetting to endsheets. In a Near Fine unclipped dust jacket with moderate toning to spine light wear to the extremities and light soiling with a few small light stains. A sharp copy in the scarce dust jacket. Kafka's darkest work a posthumously published novel about a man arrested on undefined charges with no hope of redemption or acquittal. Adapted into the 1962 film of the same name directed by Orson Welles starring a young Anthony Perkins as Josef K. Alfred A. Knopf unknown
1990réf. 2995New York: Vincent FitzGerald and Company 1990. First Edition thus one of 50 copies all on BFK Rives paper all signed by Turner and Feingold. Page size: 11 x 13". Bound: collaged Japanese grey paper over boards housed in black silk box fine. Illustrating Kafka's 15 short fictions are 25 photogravures a delicate process little used since the 19th century. The process in which original prints are made from a photograph etched by ultraviolet light on an engraved copper plate is used in an innovative contemporary way to reflect the great Modernist author's distinctive 20th century sensibility with its inexplicable fears and haunting sense of helpless isolation. Rather than standing aloof from the text Turner's images enfold it combat it or weave their way across it. Gatefold pages aquatints adding almost subliminal touches of colors and collages employing a variety of fine papers in various textures and colors are among the techniques which add to the effect of a visual environment specially created for Kafka's lost souls to inhabit. Vincent FitzGerald and Company unknown books
1937réf. 1508066Knopf 1937. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. A fine first US edition in a fine dust jacket. First American edition stated on the copyright page. Original price still on front flap of the jacket. Housed in a custom-made collector's clamshell case. Knopf hardcover books
1915réf. 2037Leipzig: Der Weissen Bücher 1915. First edition. Original wrappers. Very Good. FIRST APPEARANCE OF A MASTERPIECE OF WESTERN LITERATURE PRECEDING THE FIRST BOOK EDITION. "Kafka read the first section of his 'bug piece' Wanzensache aloud to friends on November 24 1912 and again on December 15. People started talking about it and Kafka received a query from publisher Kurt Wolff in March 1913 on the recommendation of Kafka's friend Franz Werfel. Franz Blei the literary editor of the new avant-garde journal Die weissen Blätter expressed interest and Robert Musil wrote as well soliciting the novella for the more established Die neue Rundschau. But months passed before Kafka had a clean manuscript ready for submission and then World War I intervened causing further delays. In the spring of 1915 René Schickele took over as editor-in-chief of Die weissen Blätter and with Max Brod's help Kafka placed the story there. It came out in October 1915 and then appeared in December 1915 though dated 1916 as a slender volume published by Kurt Wolff Verlag in Leipzig" Susan Bernofsky The New Yorker. IN: Die Weissen Blätter 2 Jahrgang October 1915 pp. 1177-1230. The whole issue October 1915 offered. Leipzig: Der Weissen Bücher 1915. Octavo original wrappers; custom cloth box. Mild foxing to wrappers a little wear at the spine ends. A rare well-preserved copy in the original wrappers of the true first printing; considerably more rare than the first book edition. Der Weissen Bücher unknown books
1930réf. 171452New York: Alfred A. Knopf 1930. First American Edition published simultaneously with the British edition preceded by the First German Edition in 1926. Franz Kafka's final unfinished novel posthumously published by his executor Max Brod despite the author's wishes that the manuscript be burned. Top corners lightly bumped backstrip lightly toned overall about Near Fine in a Very Good plus price-clipped dust jacket. Jacket with corresponding moderate toning and a few small splashes to the spine panel along with toning to the top edge of the rear panel and flap folds. Housed in a custom quarter-leather maroon cloth clamshell box. Alfred A. Knopf unknown
1915réf. 140937916Leipzig: Kurt Wolff Verlag 1915. First Edition. Very Good. First edition first printing with no stamps to title page case-bound issue. Sans-serif variant of type to front cover and spine no priority. 73 1 5 ads pp. Publisher's printed blue paper-covered boards. In German. Very Good with typical sunning along top edge of front and back boards rubbing along edges of head boards bowed outwards a little worn tips spine slightly darkened. Internally bright. The first book appearance of Kafka's The Metamorphosis issued simultaneously in wraps and boards a landmark of 20th century literature. Kurt Wolff Verlag unknown books
1925réf. 89301925 ÉDITION ORIGINALE, première impression. À Berlin, chez Verlag Die Schmiede, 1925. Un volume, in-8 (14 x 19.5 cm), [6] + 411 + [1] pages. Reliure à la Bradel en toile verte, étiquette de titre en papier au dos et sur le premier plat, tranche de tête jaune (reliure de l'éditeur). Dos insolé, autrement ouvrage en parfait état.
1959réf. 2220Pfullingen, Günther Neske Verlag, 1959. Un volume in-4 (279 x 211 mm), reliure éditeur toilée gris clair, dos à la bradel, plat supérieur illustrée d’un dessin de Arp reproduit. ÉDITION ORIGINALE. Texte en allemand. - EXEMPLAIRE DE TÊTE AVEC SEPT GRAVURES DE HANS ARP SIGNÉES AU CRAYON. - TIRAGE : un des 33 exemplaires de tête, celui-ci numéroté X, signé par Hans Arp, les seuls à comporter toutes les gravures signées. Rarissime et magnifique, les gravures de toute beauté. Références : Arntz 396-402b - Tiessen I, 46. - ENGLISH DESCRIPTION : Pfullingen, Günther Neske Verlag, 1959. A volume in-4 (279 x 211 mm). Publisher's cloth binding, light gray canvas, back to the bradel, upper cover illustrated with a drawing by Arp reproduced. ORIGINAL FIRST EDITION, with the text in German. HEAD COPY WITH 7 ORIGINAL ENGRAVINGS BY HANS ARP SIGNED IN PENCIL. - EDITION: one of 33 deluxe copies, this one numbered X, signed by Hans Arp, the only ones to include all the signed seven engravings. - ILLUSTRATION: 7 original etchings signed by Hans Arp. Extremely scarce , the engravings of great beauty. Literature: Arntz 396-402b - Tiessen I, 46. GERMAN DESCRIPTION: MONDSAND. Gedichte. Mit 7 signierten Original-Radierungen von Arp. Pfullingen, Neske, 1959. 4°. [32] Bll. (das erste u. letzte weiss). Original-Seideneinband mit Rückentitel u. Deckelillustration. In privatem Schuber. - Erste Ausgabe. - Eines von 33 römisch nummerierten Exemplaren (X) der Vorzugsausgabe, im Druckvermerk zusätzlich von Arp signiert. - Druck der Radierungen bei Fequet & Baudier in Paris. Schönes Exemplar (Arntz 396-402b - Tiessen I, 46).
1930réf. 140948911New York: Alfred A. Knopf 1930. First American Edition. Near Fine/Near Fine. First American edition first printing. xi 1 340 pp. Bound in publisher's dove grey cloth stamped in black black topstain. Near Fine with light toning and foxing to cloth and textblock edges slight bumping to corners. Binding square and firm. In a superlative Near Fine price-clipped dust jacket with sunning to spine panel and extremities and light wear and rubbing; colors bright. Kafka's final and unfinished philosophical novel posthumously published by his executor Max Brod who refused to honor his friend's request that the manuscript be burned. Alfred A. Knopf unknown
1916réf. FK003Leipzig: Kurt Wolff Verlag 1916 First edition. Publishers gray wrappers with 3 leaves of advertisements at rear in original pictorial dust jacket. Book with slight lean to spine interior clean; jacket folds lightly rubbed very light wear to spine ends with title and author inked on spine by previous owner. The Metamorphosis was first published serially in German under the title Die Verwandlung in the avant-garde journal Die weissen Blätter in October 1915 and in book format by Kurt Wolff Verlag in December of the same year. It tells the story of the anti-hero Gregor Samsa an overworked travelling salesman who awakens to find himself transformed into an ungeheueres Ungeziefer or as Lloyd translates "some monstrous kind of vermin;" Kafka's deliberately vague description of Samsa's new insect-like body which in the original German is emphasized as being dirty and bottom-feeding makes a direct translation into English extremely difficult but is generally accepted to be a cockroach. As Gregor realizes his own transformation the cause of which is never explained his family's opinion of him similarly transforms as they are both frustrated by his inability to continue to support them financially and disgusted by his new physical appearance. The Metamorphosis is widely considered one of the most influential works of the 20th century. First Edition. Original Wraps. Near Fine. Leipzig: Kurt Wolff Verlag paperback books
1915réf. 140937186Leipzig: Kurt Wolff Verlag 1915. Very Good. First edition first printing. Publisher's original printed blue paper-covered boards. Very Good with toning to covers and rubbing at extremities. Previous owner name crossed out on front paste down and title page several hinges slightly exposed. A landmark of 20th century literature and Kafka's most enduring work. Kurt Wolff Verlag unknown books
1915réf. 140948517Leipzig: Kurt Wolff Verlag 1915. First Edition. Near Fine. First edition first printing case-bound issue. Text in German. Bound in publisher's blue paper-covered boards stamped in black; spine sympathetically replaced. Near Fine boards are lightly toned and soiled with wear at corners slight foxing to endsheets. The first book appearance of Kafka's The Metamorphosis issued simultaneously in wraps and boards a landmark of 20th century literature. Flores p. 20; Dietz 26. Kurt Wolff Verlag unknown
réf. 2034First edition. Original wrappers. FIRST EDITION THE PREFERRED ISSUE IN ILLUSTRATED WRAPPERS OF ONE OF THE MASTERPIECES OF WORLD LITERATURE. "On the evening of November 17 1912 a young employee of the Workmen's Accident Insurance Agency in Prague sat down to work on a 'troubling little story' that had occurred to him 'in bed' the previous night. After spending the first part of the day in the office he returned to the apartment he shared with his parents and thee sisters had lunch napped took a walk and then did a series of strengthening and stretching calisthenics. This was his daily ritual before settling in for the evening - and often far into the night - to what he considered his true life a life dedicated to writing. Then whether acting on a long-meditated plan or following an obscure sudden intuition he set down the words of the first hammerlike sentence of what would become his most famous story and one of the defining works of modern imaginative fiction The Metamorphosis or more simply 'The Transformation': 'When Gregor Samsa woke one morning from troubled dreams he found himself transformed right there in his bed into some sort of monstrous insect.' Ever since readers have been mesmerized amused puzzled irritated and unsettled by Gregor's life-changing transformation" Mark M. Anderson ed. The Metamorphosis. With the famous illustration by Ottomar Starke on the front wrapper. Kafka was adamant that the illustration not depict a bug writing in a letter to the publishing house: "The insect itself must not be illustrated by a drawing. It cannot be shown at all not even from a distance." The Metamorphosis was one of the few works published by Kafka in his lifetime. Leipzig: Kurt Wolff 1915. Octavo original illustrated wrappers dated 1916 as usual over red paper covers; custom cloth box. A little foxing to front wrapper; text exceptionally clean and fresh. An excellent copy of one of the cornerstones of Western literature. unknown books
1939réf. 2727Paris: GLM 1939. FIRST EDITION Deluxe issue. Original wrappers. Fine. EXCEEDINGLY RARE DELUXE SET OF AVANTE-GARDE WORKS BY FOUR LITERARY MASTERS. Each copy one of only 15 deluxe issues. Includes the deluxe issue of Duchamp's important collection of aphorisms "Rrose Sélavy". This extraordinary and complete collection collectively "Biens Nouveaux" of works by Marcel Duchamp Lewis Carroll Franz Kafka and Gisèle Prassinos demonstrates the significance of absurdism magical realism and surrealism across Europe in the 1930s and 40s. Published in April 1939 by Guy Lévis-Mano one of the most creative French printers of the twentieth century this complete series includes Marcel Duchamp's Rrose Sélavy Lewis Carroll's La Canne du Destin Franz Kafka's Le Chasseur Gracchus and Gisele Prassinos's Sondue. Each copy is one of only 15 of the deluxe issue printed on high-quality Vieux Japon. This original edition of Marcel Duchamp's book of aphorisms Rrose Sélavy is numbered two out of only fifteen copies on Vieux Japon. Duchamp's female alter ego Rrose Sélavy was an artist muse and creative experiment that brought to life his symbolic use of language. Her name as pronounced in French sounds like "Eros c'est la vie" meaning "The passion of love sex such is life." The playful puns and witty satire in this text provide clever commentary on society and the art world offering the reader a glimpse into the mind of a revolutionary artist who believed in the joy to live and roam free in thought. Lewis Carroll's La Canne du Destin The Cane of Destiny is numbered thirteen out of only fifteen copies on Vieux Japon. Published posthumously in 1939 translator André Bay believed it was written in 1848 when Carroll was only 16. La Canne du Destin features two barons a magician and a man named Blowski who dies and is transformed into mashed potatoes !. It is notable for its fantastical storytelling and whimsical wordplay a style which predated and foreshadowed Carroll's most famous work Alice's Adventure in Wonderland. His writing inspired the work of surrealists like Duchamp and Prassinos. Le Chasseur Gracchus English: The Gracchus Hunter; German: Der Jäger Gracchus numbered seven out of fifteen copies on Vieux Japon was translated by Henri Parisot in 1939 and is one of the earliest Franz Kafka's stories published in French. A six-page story written in 1917 it was found posthumously among Kafka's papers. The tale is about the long-dead Hunter Gracchus who is destined to wander aimlessly and eternally at sea unable to find peace. The surrealist dreamlike imagery of the story explores themes of loneliness alienation and the human condition. This work represents a model for Kafka's later writing and a Kafkaesque dilemma "two worlds that cannot make themselves understood by one another." Emrich Sondue Sounded by Gisèle Prassinos is numbered two out of fifteen copies on Vieux Japon. A French artist and writer she was discovered by André Breton in 1934 who declared "the tone of Gisèle Prassinos is unique: all the poets are jealous of it." When she was just fourteen her first book La Sauterelle Arthritique The Arthritic Grasshopper was published. For many her personification of animals in this story was reminiscent of Carroll's Alice's Adventures in Wonderland. Hailed as a prodigy by the surrealists Sondue a novella-length narrative was published when she was just 19 and considered macabre humor. Prassinos used automatic writing sometimes referred to as free writing a common surrealist technique. This was the last story she published before the start of World War II. She would not publish any writing again until 1958. This "Biens Nouveaux" collection was beautifully printed on Vieux Japon known for its velvety texture and substantial weight and only used by Guy Lévis Mano for premium projects. René Char French poet and member of the French resistance explained "When the passion to give life to a collection.unites with.the art of printing it brings us admirable successes and restores the object to its lasting plenitude. Guy Lévis Mano is the only one today who satisfies this haughty concern. He devoted his faith his competence his generosity and his enthusiasm to it." Char 745 1. Marcel Duchamp. Rrose Sélavy. Paris G.L.M. 1939. First Edition. Small quarto 165 x 115 mm original wrappers; glassine. Small closed tear to glassine at front base otherwise fine. One of 15 original copies on Vieux Japon this one number 2. 2. Lewis Carroll. La Canne du Destin The Cane of Destiny. Paris G.L.M. 1939. Small quarto 165 x 115 mm original wrappers; glassine. Fine condition. One of 15 original copies on Vieux Japon this one number 13. 3. Franz Kafka. Le Chasseur Gracchus The Gracchus Hunter. Paris G.L.M. 1939. Small quarto 165 x 115 mm original wrappers; glassine. Fine condition. One of 15 original copies on Vieux Japon this one number 7. 4. Gisèle Prassinos. Sondue Sounded . Paris G.L.M. 1939. First edition. Small quarto 165 x 115 mm original wrappers; glassine. Fine condition. One of 15 original copies on Vieux Japon this one number 2. References: André Breton. Translated by Richard Seaver and Helen R. Lane. Manifestos of Surrealism. University of Michigan Press 1969. René Char. In the Poet's Studio. Gallimard "Quarto" collection 1956. The Editors of Encyclopaedia Britannica. "Franz Kafka." Encyclopedia Britannica December 2 2022. Wilhelm Emrich. Translated by Sheema Z. Buehne. Franz Kafka. Frederick Ungar Publisher 1961. Alexander Hawkins. "Meet Rrose Sélavy: Marcel Duchamp's Female Alter Ego." AnOther Magazine. December 1 2015. Gisèle Prassinos. Translated by Ellen Nations. Surrealist Texts. Black Scat Books 2014. Rachel Rivenc and Kendra Roth eds. Living Matter: The Preservation of Biological Materials in Contemporary Art. Getty Conservation Institute 2022. GLM unknown
1926réf. 32165Munich: Kurt Wolff 1926. First edition. 8vo pp. vi 504. Original blue cloth some mild fading internally fine and fresh with the rare original dust jacket edges and folds minimally restored slightly chipped at the ends of the spine the jacket carries a quote from Hermann Hesse calling Kafka "König der Deutschen Sprache" Kurt Wolff hardcover books
1915réf. 140947640Leipzig: Kurt Wolff Verlag 1915. First edition. Very Good/Very Good. First edition first printing. 73 1 5 ads 1 pp. The preferred issue bound in publisher's red wrappers with beige printed dust jacket illustrated by the German Expressionist Ottomar Starke. Very Good with lean to binding small tear at crown and creasing to spine and edges. Light toning and slight discoloration to cover label removed with residue on front red wrapper. Foxing to textblock edges and margins of contents light toning throughout with small closed tear to inner margin of p. 10 not affecting text. One of the only books published in Kafka's short lifetime an initial flop that scarcely sold more than 400 out of 800 copies on first printing. "This 'exceptionally repulsive story' is the most sustained work of fiction published during Kafka's lifetime and the one with which his name is most profoundly associated in the common conscious. In his critical hierarchy of the great prose works of the Twentieth Century Vladimir Nabokov rates Die Verwandlung second behind only James Joyce's Ulysses a work that is twenty or more times its length." The Breon Mitchell Collection of the Works of Franz Kafka p. 7; Flores p.4. Kurt Wolff Verlag unknown
1926réf. 32165Munich: Kurt Wolff 1926. First edition. 8vo pp. vi 504. Original blue cloth some mild fading internally fine and fresh with the rare original dust jacket edges and folds minimally restored slightly chipped at the ends of the spine the jacket carries a quote from Hermann Hesse calling Kafka "König der Deutschen Sprache Kurt Wolff unknown
1924réf. 32166Berlin: Die Schmiede 1924. First edition. Publisher's brown striped boards printed cover and spine labels design by Georg Salter. A fine copy in the rare and fragile dust jacket with only minimal wear. Published shortly after Kafka's death in June 1924 it is the last book for which he corrected proofs. Dietz 66. Die Schmiede hardcover books
1929réf. 2905Stara Rise Czech Republic: Josef Florian 1929. First Edition. Softcover. Very Good/Very good. Together 2 volumes large 4to and 8vo. PORTFOLIO 310 x 235 mm. Half-title SIGNED by the artist title-page 2-page translation of Kafka's "Ein Traum" into Czech by Gustav Janouch list of plates and statement of limitation printed in red and black. With 6 full-page heliogravures from etchings by Otto Coester numbered 1-6 in pencil. Loose as issued original brown textured wrappers front wrapper with vignette printed in black spine chipped with long tear along fold plates perfectly clean. TEXT VOLUME 170 x 115 mm. 82 3 pp. Pictorial title-page printed in red and black. With 7 b/w illustrations in the text likewise by Coester 3 elaborate decorative initials printed in red. Original pale ivory wrappers front wrapper and spine lettered in purple and grey lightly rubbed. ADDED: 4-page publisher's prospectus and with illustrated card of Coester's "Promena" laid in. The entire ensemble preserved in a light gold colored cloth case. ¶ Important collection of the first illustrations of any Kafka work in any language. Here offered is the scarce first edition in Czech of "Metamorphosis" along with the rare separately published portfolio of six heliogravures from etchings all illustrated by Swabian artist Otto Coester. Coester lived in Moravia in the 1920s and belonged to a close-knit circle of Kafka admirers. Although there is no confirmed record of Kafka and Coester ever meeting in person they certainly knew each other by reputation and their proximity has led some scholars to question whether or not Coester had some inside knowledge of Kafka's vision see: David Gallagher "The Metamorphosis" p. 134. ¶ That Kafka's legendary "Der Verwandlung" is illustrated here for the first time is highly significant. From its "inception" Kafka had insisted that the creature exist only as the product reader's own worst nightmare undefined by any graphic representation on the printed page. Indeed concerning publication of the 1915 Leipzig first edition of "Der Vanderlung" Kafka demanded that: "The insect itself must not be illustrated by a drawing. It cannot be shown at all not even from a distance." ¶ Thus these 1929 illustrations are the earliest published depiction of the mythic creature. The arresting eerie heliogravures depict various highlights of the story from the protagonist Gregor Samsa awakening "from monstrous dreams" to his transformation "right there on his bed into some sort of monstrous insect"; Gregor's wife Grete playing her violin for the boarders; the discovery of Gregor's disgusting carcass and more. The text volume published contemporaneously with the portfolio contains an entirely DIFFERENT series of Coester's "Metamorphosis" illustrations; therefore in order to assess the full compliment of the iconographic tradition of Franz Kafka's writings we must examine both Coester editions together. Doing so is extremely difficult: OCLC identifies Univ. Illinois and Univ. Indiana as the only American institutions holding both the portfolio and the published first Czech edition; Harvard has only the book. ¶ Coester 1902-1990 was close to the Paris Surrealists the Bauhaus and the Werkbund; among his circle of friends were Alfred Kubin Ossip Zadkine Gerhard Marcks and Ewald Matare. He traveled to Moravia in 1927 and there publisher and early Kafka admirer Josef Florian inspired Coester to create book illustrations for "The Metamorphosis." These appeared in 1929 in a portfolio limited to just 120 copies of which ours is number 72 for which the illustrations were printed by the Graphic Union in Prague under the supervision of Josef Capek and the letterpress by Kryl and Scotti in Novy Jicine. That Coester himself assumed responsibility for the distribution of the portfolio and sold a number of copies in Germany may account for its rarity: after all Coester was a painter not a bookseller and both publications appeared during two World Wars during which time the market for artist's books was almost non-existent SOURCE: O.F. Babler "Rane ceske preklady Franze Kafky" in: Franz Kafka: Liblicka Konference ed. Eduard Goldstucker/ Prague: CSAV 1963 p. 146. The first Czech edition of "The Metamorphosis" present here in excellent condition was limited to 400 copies of which ours is number 310 of 400 copies on velin from a total edition of 600. ¶ See the exhibition catalogue: "Otto Coester - první ilustrátor Franze Kafky" Dusseldorf Kunstverein fur die Rheinlande und Westfalen 1990. Borchers / Svestka Otto Coester Monographie mit Oeuvreverzeichnis 1991 p. 22 and no. 13 a-h. Literature: Katerina Nakladalova "Promena Franze Kafky od ilustrace po inspiraci Reflexe Kafkova dila ve vytvarnem umeni v Ceskoslovensku "Transformation of Franz Kafka from illustration to inspiration: Reflection of Kafka's work in fine art in Czechoslovakia" Masters Thesis Masarykova University Brno 2013 figs. 4-6. Josef Florian unknown books
1924réf. 32166Berlin: Die Schmiede 1924. First edition. Publisher's brown striped boards printed cover and spine labels design by Georg Salter. A fine copy in the rare and fragile dust jacket with only minimal wear. Published shortly after Kafka's death in June 1924 it is the last book for which he corrected proofs. Dietz 66. Die Schmiede unknown
1924réf. 188798Berlin: Verlag die Schmiede 1924. His parting literary endeavour First edition boards issue in the dust jacket. Kafka worked on his final story collection during his last days. "When he finished the proofs - working on them must have been a tremendous psychological effort and a shattering intellectual reencounter with himself - tears rolled down his cheeks for a long time" cited in Unseld p. 273. Also issued in cloth the collection comprises the title story along with "Ersted Lied" "Eine kleine Frau" and "Josefine die Sängerin oder Das Volk der Mäuse". The cover art is by the influential German-American book artist George Salter 1897-1967. Among his other cover designs were Kafka's Der Prozess 1925 William Faulkner's Absalom Absalom! 1936 and Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged 1957. Loosely inserted is the publisher's promotional bookmark for their Novels of the 20th Century series. Octavo. Text in German. Original patterned boards blue paper label lettered in red on spine and front cover top edge blue. With dust jacket by George Salter. Ends and corners rubbed splash marks to top edge contents clean; jacket slightly chipped with loss to ends of unlettered spine discreet repairs to folds toning and faint damp stains issued without printed price: a very good copy in like jacket. Joachim Unseld Franz Kafka: A Writer's Life 1994. hardcover
1917réf. 371699Budapest 1917. 1 vols. 4-1/8 x 7-1/8 inches. Matted in double glazed frame. Fine. 1 vols. 4-1/8 x 7-1/8 inches. Envelope sent Express from Budapest to Rudolf Fuchs by author Franz Kafka who was writing from the Hotel Imperial Budapest. Signed in the third person Dr. Kafka on the back flap. Rudolf Fuchs 1890-1942 poet and social critic was a member of Kafka's literary circle in Prague. He knew Kafka since 1912. In an article in Zeitschrift für Germanistik scholar Ilse Seehase discusses three wartime communications from Kafka to Fuchs. The second of these dated 14 July 1917 was "probably" written in Budapest and looked ahead to a meeting in Vienna Seehase p. 179. This autograph envelope postmarked 14 July confirms that Kafka was indeed in Budapest when he wrote Fuchs: he had just become engaged for the second time to Felice Bauer. On 16 July 1917 Kafka held a conversation with Otto Groß Anton Kuh and Rudolf Fuchs at a café in Vienna. In August of that year Kafka was diagnosed with the tuberculosis that would later kill him. Fuchs published an early obituary of Kafka on 4 June 1924. Fuchs described the effect of his writing: "He perceived as no other the romance of the quotidian and the poetry of familiar things. The effect of just one of his short observations is magical. As in a dream a dense realistic dream. All that he puts into words is so vital and yet an experience one hasn't seen before and even his simple phrasing has the grace of utter strangeness." Fuchs escaped the Nazis to London where he composed his Erinnerungen an Franz Kafka. A posthumous collection Ein wissender Soldat. Gedichte und Schriften aus dem Nachlass von Rudolf Fuchs was published there in 1943. Kafka autograph material is rare. Cf. Ilse Seehase Drei Mitteilungen Kafkas und ihr Umfeld pp. 178-83 in: Zeitschrift für Germanistik 8:2 1987 unknown
1915réf. 175616Leipzig: Kurt Wolff Verlag 1915. The insect itself must not be illustrated by a drawing. It cannot be shown at all not even from a distance First edition first printing first issue a superbly well-preserved copy of the case-bound issue complete with the original dust jacket which rarely survives. The first of Kafka's masterpieces Metamorphosis narrates the tale of a man who wakes up to find himself transformed into an "ungeheuren Ungeziefer" usually translated as a "monstrous insect". The Expressionist jacket illustration by Ottomar Starke 1886-1962 does not represent the insect; after learning that Starke would illustrate the dust jacket Kafka wrote to the publisher: "The insect itself must not be illustrated by a drawing. It cannot be shown at all not even from a distance" 25 October 1915. The novel met with unimpressive sales on publication and after a year or so the numerous unsold copies were stamped on the title pages with the official stamp of the German censors. This copy is a first issue without the censor stamp. It is one of two variant states with the spine and front cover lettered in serif type no established priority. There was also an issue in wrappers which repeats Starke's jacket illustration published simultaneously. Octavo. Original quarter japon spine and front lettered in black blue laid paper boards top edge blue. With dust jacket illustrated by Ottomar Stark. Housed in a black quarter morocco solander box by the Chelsea bindery. Boards slightly bowing minimal rubbing to extremities a couple of minute marginal tears to first few leaves; jacket just lightly toned tiny marks and nicks to top edge flaps without price as issued: notwithstanding a fine copy in like dust jacket. hardcover
