Kafka FranzABAA
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1916FK003Leipzig: 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
1915140937186Leipzig: 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
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.<br /> <br /> 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." <br /> <br /> The Metamorphosis was one of the few works published by Kafka in his lifetime. <br /> <br /> 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
192632165Munich: 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" <br/><br/> Kurt Wolff hardcover books
192432166Berlin: 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. <br/><br/> Die Schmiede hardcover books
19292905Stara 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 - prvnà 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
