Java Head by Joseph Hergesheimer - November, 1928

Leipzig: Bernard Tauchnitz, November, 1928. Vol No.4571. Copyright edition 1922. Small 8vo. Java Head, a miscegenation story told from multiple viewpoints that is generally considered his best novel, was a considerable popular success, and his flamboyant, ornate, highly descriptive style was considered elegant and powerful.
Joseph Hergesheimer (1880 - 1954) was an American writer of the early 20th century known for his naturalistic novels of decadent life amongst the very wealthy. Hergesheimer published his first novel, The Lay Anthony, in 1914. Hergesheimer received critical recognition for his novels Java Head (1919), Linda Condon (1919), and Balisand (1924). Bernhard Freiherr von Tauchnitz (1816-1895), the founder of the firm of Bernhard Tauchnitz, was the nephew of Karl Christoph Traugott Tauchnitz (1761 - 1836). His printing and publishing firm was started at Leipzig in 1837. Bernhard started the Collection of British and American Authors, a reprint series familiar to anglophone travellers on the continent of Europe. These inexpensive, paperbound editions, a direct precursor to mass-market paperbacks, was begun in 1841, and eventually ran to over 5000 volumes. Tauchnitz editions were more often than not published at the same time as the true first, many with the injunction that they should not be introduced into the British Empire or the USA for copyright reasons. In a number of recorded cases, and no doubt many unrecorded ones, the Tauchnitz editions were published slightly in advance of the UK editions, making them the true worldwide first edition.

[see image scan of actual book]