Metropolis. by HARBOU, Thea von - 1926

Berlin: August Scherl,, 1926. The scarce cloth issue in an exceptional example of the rare dust jacket Octavo. Original green cloth, spine lettered in gilt on red ground, front board lettered and ruled in gilt, top edge yellow. With dust jacket. Ownership ink stamp to rear pastedown. Spine slightly rolled and faded, boards a little rubbed and marked. An excellent copy in the dust jacket with spotting to spine and rear panel. First edition, first impression, the scarce cloth issue in an exceptional example of the rare dust jacket illustrated by Willy Reimann. Based on the original screenplay written by German director Fritz Lang and his wife Thea von Harbou in 1924, this novelization was published before the release of the film version on 10 January 1927. The film Metropolis is a classic both of German expressionism and of silent-era science fiction; it remains the most expensive silent film ever made, costing approximately 5 million Reichsmark. Influenced by the Soviet science fiction film Aelita by Yakov Protazanov (1924), which was an adaptation of a novel by Alexei Tolstoy, Metropolis advocates non-violent non-collaboration rather than the Marxist ideal of "class struggle" promoted by Aelita. Bleiler, Science-Fiction 1040.