Földvári Books

True First Edition, Extremely Rare “Leseexemplar”

Mann, Thomas

Bekenntnisse des Hochstaplers Felix Krull. Der Memoiren erster Teil. (Leseexemplar. Unkorrigierter Abzug. Nur für persönlichen Gebrauch.) [Confessions of Felix Krull, Confidence Man. The Early Years. Reading Copy. Uncorrected Proof Copy. Only for Personal Use.]

(Frankfurt am Main): S. Fischer, 1954. True first edition. In original orange paper. 441, (1), [6] p. Spine somewhat worn, author and title written in ink.

Thomas Mann’s last, unfinished picaresque novel, that he “wrote” throughout almost his entire life, about Felix Krull, the confidence man. A parody of Goethe’s autobiography “Dichtung und Wahrheit” (Poetry and Truth), embellished with Mann’s ironic autobiographical allusions. Mann started to plan the book in 1905 and finished the first chapters already in 1911 than he ceased writing it for about four decades to continue it in the early 50s, between 1950 and 1954. The first part published first in the collection of short stories in 1920, titled “Das Wunderkind” (The Infant Prodigy), the first separate edition was published in 1922. This one is the very first edition of the entire (but still unfinished) work. “Leseexemplars” were printed in limited number, not for the market, handed to booksellers and journalist weeks before the date of the proper publication. We could not trace any copies in libraries, found only one copy in Hans-Peter Haack’s collection. [Haack, Hans-Peter: Erstausgaben Thomas Mann; 91.3.].

Price: €3,000.00