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37 HESSE, Hermann. Siddhartha. Berlin: S. Fischer, 1922 First edition, first printing, with “Erste bis Sechste Auflage” on the copyright page, an excellent example of the fragile trade issue in boards. Hesse’s landmark novel of spiritual discovery, Siddhartha’s presentation of Buddhism and the struggle for enlightenment would later have a significant impact on the hippy subculture. Octavo. Original orange boards, spine and front cover lettered in black. Contemporary ownership inscription to title page. Some superficial splitting along joints, light rubbing to ends and corners, but an unusually handsome copy in the fragile boards, sound and clean within, very good indeed. £3,000 [153079] 38 HESSE, Hermann. Steppenwolf. London: Martin Secker, 1929 First edition in English, first impression, in an exceptional example of the scarce dust jacket, retaining its 7s 6d price. The cloth on this copy is a rare variant: black with red titles as opposed to red with black titles, and has a red top stain absent from the red cloth issue, suggesting that this more handsome product may have been the first issue. Now a classic of international literature, in its time Der Steppenwolf was castigated by the Nazis as a corrupting force for its depiction of a disaffected outsider and his lapse into decadence and drug use. After the war, the novel became totemic to the free-thinking generation which came of age in the 1960s. The novel was first published in German in 1927. Octavo. Original black cloth, titles to spine red, top edge dyed red. With dust jacket. 4 pages of publisher’s advertisements at rear. An exceptional copy, the jacket only a little nicked at ends and corners. £4,750 [148629]
39 ISHERWOOD, Christopher. Goodbye to Berlin. London: The Hogarth Press, 1939 A rare inscribed copy First edition, first impression, inscribed by the author on the front free endpaper, “For Gerald Carter, with best wishes, Christopher Isherwood. March 1947”. Inscribed copies of this title, widely accepted as the author’s masterpiece, are rare. We can find only one copy recorded at auction in the last few decades. The book was signed by Isherwood during his first post-war visit to London between January and April 1947. Cyril Connolly chose this collection of six pieces as one of his 100 key books within The Modern Movement . Connolly noted that “Berlin under the emergent Nazis provided a stiffening of tragedy here shown in his moving story ‘The Nowaks’, in the two remarkable Berlin diaries, with ‘Sally Bowles’ for comic relief”. The short story “Sally Bowles” would form the basis for Kander and Ebb’s 1966 musical entitled Cabaret . It won the Tony Award for “Best Musical” and was adapted into a film version in 1972, directed by Bob Fosse and starring Liza Minnelli as Sally Bowles. Octavo. Original grey cloth, lettering to spine in red, top edge red. With dust jacket. Bookplate to front pastedown. Light toning to spine and edges, some internal foxing, minor tears to rear hinge, some dampstaining to top edge and staining to top edges of some leaves; a good copy. Soiled and worn dust jacket with repairs to reverse and added colour to head of spine; a good example, unclipped. £15,000 [152260]
INEXHAUSTIBLE LIFE
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