SANATORIUM UNDER THE SIGN OF THE HOURGLASS by Schulz, Bruno (Translated by Celina Wieniewska) - 1978

New York City, NY: Walker Publishing Company, Inc. , 1978. First Edition. First Printing.. Hardcover. Fine/Fine Dust Jacket.. New York City, NY: Walker Publishing Company, Inc. , 1978. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. First Edition/First Printing. 178 pages. The author's second collection of prose fiction. One of the greatest books of the 20th century. The first appearance of the title in English and in the United States. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions, particularly the 1989 Reissued Edition and the new translation, which was issued as a softcover original only. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only. The First Edition is now rare. Lavishly illustrated with plates of the artist's magnificent drawings, the only volume of his prose ever issued as such. Presents Bruno Schulz's "Sanatorium Under The Sign of The Hourglass" in a felicitous English translation. The second of his two masterpieces. Schulz's reputation as a seminal, one-of-a-kind writer is based entirely on two slim volumes, "Street of Crocodiles" (also known as "Cinnamon Shops") and this book. His love for all forms of earthly life - it's not just empathy, and Isaac Bashevis Singer is right to point out that in this sense, he went even deeper than either Kafka or Proust - and vision of human life as an eternal childhood demonstrate his genius to intuit and create a landscape, a mood, a feeling, and finally, a whole universe that comes alive "with an unpredictable spirit-force, where every living tissue contains ghosts" (Cynthia Ozick). Beguilingly "impressionistic" in a painterly way (he considered himself primarily an artist and earned his living as an art teacher), Schulz's prose style has no precedent and many admirer/followers, including some of the greatest writers of our time. A Polish Jew, Schulz was hunted down and shot to death on a ghetto street by a Gestapo officer (to get back at a Gestapo rival who was Schulz's "patron") during a particularly brutal pogrom in 1942. His fellow Jews were too terrified to remove his body and waited for days before doing so to bury him. After the Second World War, Stalinist Poland condemned his work, inflicting a second, even more fatal death. But true greatness is not only its own reason for being, reward, or redemption. It is, as Ozick acutely observes, the spirit-force itself that quivers constantly with life, contains ghosts, and is immortal. Bruno Schulz is one of the great human souls who have ultimately prevailed in a world of soul-killers: ALL great art and literature have a spiritual dimension, NOT to be confused with mere religiosity, and is indeed its exact opposite as it is immanent to the artist's humanity. Bruno Schulz is among the very greatest artist/writers because of his spiritual commitment, not just this dimension: "A kind of DNA code for the secret language of imagination" (Cynthia Ozick). An absolute "must-have" title for Bruno Schulz collectors. This title is a great book. This is one of few copies of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing (American) still available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright. Please note: Precedes and should NOT be confused with the 1989 Reissued Edition or the new transaltion, which was issued as a softcover oriignal only. Copies available online have serious flaws, are subsequent printings, or are remainder-marked. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A rare copy thus. Lavishly illustrated with 30 plates of the author's drawings. One of the greatest artist/writers of the 20th century. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER BRUNO SCHULZ TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 0802705928.