Search Results: Books by kafka

Paris: Transition / Shakespeare and Company, 1938. First edition. Very good to near fine overall.. Complete run of Eugene and Maria Jolas's landmark literary journal, which - along with Margaret Anderson's THE LITTLE REVIEW - was one of the primary vehicles of Modernist and experimental writing. Over the course of 11 years, often times under great financial difficulty, they published a who's-who of modernist and experimental authors, alongside the work of Surrealist, Expressionist, and Dada artists: "TRANSITION would explore the literary currents washing over Europe and America, present them all if they showed 'imaginative emancipation' as against descriptive naturalism" (Hoffman).  Beginning with the very first issue, they published several portions of James Joyce's Work in Progress (Finnegans Wake), and notably, Jolas's English translation of Kafka's METAMORPHOSIS, which appeared in issues 24-26. Contributors across other issues include Kay Boyle, Samuel Beckett, Ernest Hemingway, Hilda… Read More

Hardback. Good.

First Edition in English; A Near Fine book in a Very Good or better dust jacket. An outstanding copy of this UK Edition, the first translation of a Kafka novel into English, preceding both "The Trial" and "The Metamorphosis"; very scarce in this condition, particularly with the Original, intact dust jacket. Housed in a beautiful custom quarter leather clamshell box. This copy is in near fine condition with a square tight binding, bright blue boards with sharp gold lettering, and pages free of any markings with mild age-toning; the book does show minor rubbing to the board edges, moderate sunning to the spine, and light soiling to the exterior text block. Housed in a crisp and bright very good or better original dust jacket that shows mild rubbing and chipping to the ends, edges, and corners, a light dampstain to the spine, and a small closed tear at the spine fold near the head of the spine. Overall, a sharp and presentable copy of a book rarely seen in this condition; an important addition to the… Read More

Berlin: 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.

Munich: 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"

Paris: GLM, 1939. FIRST EDITION, Deluxe issue. Original wrappers. Fine. EXCEEDINGLY RARE DELUXE SET OF AVANTE-GARDE WORKS BY FOUR LITERARY MASTERS. Each copy one of only 15 deluxe issues. Includes the deluxe issue of Duchamp's important collection of aphorisms, "Rrose Sélavy". This extraordinary and complete collection (collectively "Biens Nouveaux") of works by Marcel Duchamp, Lewis Carroll, Franz Kafka and Gisèle Prassinos demonstrates the significance of absurdism, magical realism and surrealism across Europe in the 1930s and 40s. Published in April 1939 by Guy Lévis-Mano, one of the most creative French printers of the twentieth century, this complete series includes Marcel Duchamp's Rrose Sélavy, Lewis Carroll's La Canne du Destin, Franz Kafka's Le Chasseur Gracchus, and Gisele Prassinos's Sondue. Each copy is one of only 15 of the deluxe issue printed on high-quality Vieux Japon. This original edition of Marcel Duchamp's book of aphorisms, Rrose Sélavy, is numbered two out of only… Read More

Leipzig: Kurt Wolff Verlag,, 1915. He found himself transformed in his bed First edition, first printing, in the fragile wrappers, and first issue without censor's stamp, of Kafka's Metamorphosis, narrating the tale of a man who wakes up to find himself a monstrous insect. Poorly received on publication, it is since firmly established as one of the iconic works of 20th-century German literature, and a defining work for the author. The book was issued in both boards and wrappers. After a year or so of unimpressive sales, the unsold copies were stamped on the title pages with the official stamp of the German censors. Only copies without this stamp, as here, can be said to be of the first issue. Octavo. Original cream wrappers printed in red and black with an illustration by Ottomar Starke, early manuscript label to spine, front wrapper dated 1916 as issued, red endpapers. Housed in a black cloth flat-back box by the Chelsea Bindery. Neat ownership label of Simon Traston to front free endpaper verso.… Read More

First 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… Read More

[London], The Parton Press, 1937. . First edition in English; small 8vo; publisher's quarter blue cloth over dark grey paper boards, spine lettered in black, pale blue paper label printed in black on upper cover. With the original cellophane dust jacket. A touch of browning to label, unobtrusive ownership inscription to ffep, book slightly leaning, minimal blistering to cloth on front cover, but a very nice copy in the rare dust jacket, with small loss at the ends of the spine panel and several corners, and one or two other scuffs. Extremely uncommon in the dust jacket. Kafka's most famous work was first published in Leipzig in 1915 with the title Die Verwandlung.A very nice copy of one of Kafka's most important works published during his lifetime and the one with which his name is most profoundly associated in the common consciousness: it is the story of Gregor Samsa's transformation into a giant insect, 'monstrous vermin'. The strange allegory of alienation - from the self, from one's very body,… Read More

Leipzig: Kurt Wolff, 1916. True first edition of one of Franz Kafka's most important works. Octavo, original wrappers. Near fine in a near fine dust jacket, rebacked. An exceptional example. The Metamorphosis tells the story of salesman Gregor Samsa who wakes one morning to find himself inexplicably transformed into a huge insect. "While critics have interpreted this chilling story variously as a description of despair in a meaningless world, as a reaction to institutional authoritarianism, and as an expression of conflict between the author and his father, its power seems to rest in its resistance to explanation. W.H. Auden has said of it, 'Had one to name the author who comes nearest to bearing the same kind of relation to our age as Dante, Shakespeare and Goethe bore to theirs, Kafka would be the first one would think of" (New York Public Library's Books of the Century, 13).

Leipzig: Kurt Wolff Verlag, 1915. First Edition. Very Good+. First edition, first printing with no stamps to title page, case-bound issue. Sans-serif variant of type to front cover and spine (no priority). 73, [1], (5, ads) pp. Publisher's printed blue paper-covered boards. In German. Very Good+ with typical sunning along top edge of front and back boards, rubbing along edges of head, boards bowed outwards a little, worn tips, spine slightly darkened. Internally bright. The first book appearance of Kafka's The Metamorphosis, issued simultaneously in wraps and boards, a landmark of 20th century literature.

Leipzig: Kurt Wolff Verlag, 1915. Full Description: KAFKA, Franz. Die Verwandlung [The Metamorphosis]. Leipzig: Kurt Wolff Verlag, [1915]. First edition, wrappers issue. One of 1000 copies (according to the publisher). Octavo (8 1/2 x 5 1/4 inches; 215 x 135 mm.). [1-2], 3-72, [73], [1, blank], [5, ads], [1, blank] pp. Complete. With five pages of publisher's advertisements and on flaps and rear cover. Cream-colored illustrated dust jacket with folding flaps, front of dust jacket with Ottomar Starke's famous charcoal drawing of a man clutching his head in front of an open door (reminiscent of Edvard Munch's "The Scream"). Publisher's advertisements on dust jacket flaps and rear panel. Red wrappers. Fore-edge uncut. Some minor creasing to bottom of spine, and along edges. Light discoloration along edges as well. Top of spine with a small amount of chipping. Front red wrapper with the residue of a removed label. Very minor foxing to first three leaves. Page 10 with a small closed tear to inner… Read More

Leipzig: Der Weissen Bücher, 1915. First edition. Original wrappers. Very Good. FIRST APPEARANCE OF A MASTERPIECE OF WESTERN LITERATURE, PRECEDING THE FIRST BOOK EDITION. "Kafka read the first section of his 'bug piece' (Wanzensache) aloud to friends on November 24, 1912, and again on December 15. People started talking about it, and Kafka received a query from publisher Kurt Wolff in March 1913 on the recommendation of Kafka's friend Franz Werfel. Franz Blei, the literary editor of the new avant-garde journal Die weissen Blätter, expressed interest, and Robert Musil wrote as well, soliciting the novella for the more established Die neue Rundschau. But months passed before Kafka had a clean manuscript ready for submission, and then World War I intervened, causing further delays... In the spring of 1915, René Schickele took over as editor-in-chief of Die weissen Blätter, and with Max Brod's help, Kafka placed the story there. It came out in October 1915, and… Read More

Knopf, 1937. 1st Edition. Hardcover. Fine/Fine. A fine first US edition in a fine dust jacket. First American edition stated on the copyright page. Original price still on front flap of the jacket. Housed in a custom-made collector's clamshell case.

The first appearance of Kafka's dark exposition on alienation *** The complete 1915 run of the prominent literary magazine, 12 issues in all, featuring the October 1915 issue containing the first appearance of Kafka s masterpiece - released 2 months before the nearly ubiquitous book edition. *** Spines toned, mild foxing and stains at the cover margins, internally very fresh, all Very Good sound copies. Excellent survivals and rare in solid, original condition. *** Kafka s story follows salesman, Gregor Samsa, who awakes to find himself transformed into a verminous creature, increasingly shunned by his family. *** …It shows the difficulties of living in a modern society and the struggle for acceptance of others when in a time of need. In this novella, Kafka directly reflects upon many of the negative aspects of his personal life, both mentally and physically. The relationship between Gregor and his father is in many ways similar to Franz and his father Herrman. The Metamorphosis also shows… Read More

Leipzig: Kurt Wolff,, 1919. In the deluxe binding First edition, first impression, in the deluxe binding. One of 1,000 copies of Kafka's short story set in an unnamed penal colony which he wrote in October 1914. The "relatively long time span between composition and first publication is due in part to Kafka's dissatisfaction with the original conclusion of the story", however, "Kafka revised the end of the text in November 1918" (Gray et al., p. 134). In November 1916 Kafka presented a version of the text "at a public reading - something to which Kafka rarely agreed - at the Goltz Gallery in Munich" (ibid., p. 134). The work was first translated into English by Eugene Jolas in 1941; published in the Partisan Review as In the Penal Colony. Octavo. Contemporary dark brown half roan, spine lettered in gilt, marbled boards, cream endpapers, white silk page marker, top edge gilt, others uncut. Housed in a custom slipcase. Text in German. Printed in blue and black. Light wear to extremities, the binding… Read More

Leipzig: Kurt Wolff Verlag, 1919. First edition. Original three-quarter calf over green and brown paper boards. Very Good. FIRST EDITION IN ORIGINAL BINDING OF ONE OF THE ONLY WORKS KAFKA PUBLISHED IN HIS LIFETIME. Franz Kafka was much more prolific in his day job than as a novelist, authoring countless statements, annual reports and accident assessments as an insurance officer in the twenty years before his death in 1924. Franz Kafka only published very few works of fiction in his lifetime, and in 1914 he wrote in his diary, "An Fertigem nur: In der Strafkolonie und ein Kapitel des Verschollenen" [Only finished works: In the Penal Colony and a chapter of The Missing] (cited in Dietz, p. 101). Why was Kafka so timid about his work? An intensely private person, he was very meticulous and self-critical as a writer, often doubting the worth of his own creative pieces and eventually requesting that all of his manuscripts be burnt upon his death. We know the name "Kafka" today in large part because of… Read More

New York: At the Wild Carrot Letterpress for the Limited Editions Club, [1984]. Unique Inscribed copy of this Limited Edition of 1500 hand-numbered copies signed by the artist, José Luis Cuevas. THIS COPY WITH ADDITIONAL INSCRIPTION AND ORIGINAL PEN AND INK DRAWING BY THE ARTIST. With etchings on tissue-guarded plates and drawings by José Luis Cuevas created specifically for this publication. Large 8vo, hand-cased at the Gray Parrot bindery in quarter gray-brown calf over textured paper-covered boards, the spine lettered in gilt within a blank embossed frame, in the original slipcase. xii, 61, [1]. Internally a pristine copy, the binding also fine but for a light touch of sun and one small abrasion to the calf of the spine, the slipcase still very nice with only minor age evidence. UNIQUE INSCRIBED COPY WITH AN ORIGINAL DRAWING BY JOSÉ LUIS CUEVAS. The famous Mexican Surrealist has inscribed this copy “La Vida de un hobre ... with a bold signature and a very large pen and ink drawing… Read More

Leipzig: Kurt Wolff,, 1916. A true birth, covered with filth and slime First edition in book form, first printing, of Kafka's The Judgement, here in the scarce case-bound issue and in exceptional condition. The story originally appeared in Max Brod's periodical Arkadia: Ein Jahrbuch für Dichtkunst, in 1913. Written in a single night in 1912 through which, as Kafka related, "the story evolved as a true birth, covered with filth and slime", Das Urteil was one of the author's personal favourites. Octavo. Original parchment-backed black boards, spine lettered in black, front cover with lettering and publisher's insignia in gilt. Housed in a custom black card slipcase. Illustrated bookplate of Werner Rübe. A near-fine copy, with the merest rubbing to tips only, sound and fresh within. Dietz 31; Raabe 146.4; Wilpert/Gühring 4.

Leipzig: Kurt Wolff,, 1916. Beautifully preserved in the fragile original wrappers First edition in book form, first printing, of Kafka's The Judgement, one of the author's favourite of his own stories. The story was written in a single night in 1912, through which, as the author remembered, "the story evolved as a true birth, covered with filth and slime". It was originally serialized in Max Brod's periodical Arkadia: Ein Jahrbuch für Dichtkunst, in 1913. Octavo. Original black wrappers, wire-stitched as issued, blue paper label to front wrapper printed in black. Discreet ink stamp to title page. Wrappers lightly creased at foot, tiny marks to front cover and edges, else a fresh, near-fine copy. Dietz 31; Raabe 146.4; Wilpert/Gühring 4.