Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Price: US$2192.51 + shipping
Description: OBrosch., 72 Seiten, [8] Vacate und Verlagsanzeige, 8° (13,5 x 21 cm), Decke bei den Kapitalen und an den Rändern leicht berieben, Schnitt mit kleinen Stockflecken, OUmschlag fehlt, Frontispiz-Blatt fehlt, sonst sauber, insgesamt annehmbarer Zustand. Book Language/s: German
Seller: Antikvariat Valentinska, Praha, Czech Republic
Kafka, Franz. Die Verwandlung. Kurt Wolff Verlag, Leipzig, 1915.
Price: US$4165.78 + shipping
Description: EA, Raabe, Handb. 146, 3. Dietz 26, 8°, Brosch. m. v. Ottomar Starke illustriertem OSU., 73 S., 3 Bl. Verlagsanzeigen - Schutzumschlag nachgedunkelt und mit Wasserrand, innen sauber und gut erhaltenes Exemplar Erste Buchausgabe der zunächst in den "Weißen Blättern" 1915 gedruckten Erzählung. Der jüngste Tag, Bd. 22/23. Wie üblich mit Jahreszahl "1916" auf dem Umschlag. Zu Mitteilung des Verlags, dass Ottomar Starke das Titelbild gestaltet, schreibt Kafka: "Es ist mir nämlich eingefallen, da Starke doch tatsächlich illustriert, er könne etwa das Insekt selbst zeichnen wollen. Das nicht, bitte das nicht! Ich will aus meiner natürlicherweise besseren Kenntnis der Geschichte heraus bitten. Das Insekt kann nicht gezeichnet werden. Es kann aber nicht einmal von der Ferne aus gezeigt werden." (Dietz S. 72).
Seller: Graphem. Kunst- und Buchantiquariat, Berlin, Germany
Price: US$6500.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: 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 then appeared in December 1915 (though dated 1916) as a slender volume published by Kurt Wolff Verlag in Leipzig" (Susan Bernofsky, The New Yorker). IN: Die Weissen Blätter, 2 Jahrgang, October 1915, pp. 1177-1230. The whole issue (October 1915) offered. Leipzig: Der Weissen Bücher, 1915. Octavo, original wrappers; custom cloth box. Mild foxing to wrappers, a little wear at the spine ends. A rare, well-preserved copy in the original wrappers of the true first printing; considerably more rare than the first book edition.
Seller: Manhattan Rare Book Company, ABAA, ILAB, New York, NY, U.S.A.
KAFKA, Franz. Die Verwandlung [The Metamorphosis]. Kurt Wolff Verlag, Leipzig, 1915.
Price: US$6750.00 + shipping
Description: 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 margin, not affecting text. Overall, a very good copy of the very scarce first edition of Kafka's most famous novel. "Written between November 17 and December 7, 1912 during the fit of creative passion that also saw the birth of Das Urteil [The Judgement] and the first chapter of Der Verschollen (Der Heizer) [(The Stoker)].This âexceptionally repulsive story' is the most sustained work of fiction published during Kafka's 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. The strange allegory of alienationâ"from the self, from one's very body, from the family, and by analogy from society, the state and the whole of mankindâ"is one of the defining works of the twentieth-century consciousness. In his critical hierarchy of the great prose works of the Twentieth Century, Vladimir Nabokov rates Die Verwandlung second behind only James Joyce's Ulysses" (The Breon Mitchell Collection of the Works of Franz Kafka, p. 7). Dietz 25. Wronski, Kafka 12. HBS 68845. $6,750.
Seller: Heritage Book Shop, ABAA, Beverly Hills, CA, U.S.A.
Kafka, Franz. Verwandlung (The Metamorphosis). Kurt Wolff Verlag, Leipzig, 1915.
Price: US$7500.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: 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.
Seller: Burnside Rare Books, ABAA, Portland, OR, U.S.A.
KAFKA, Franz.. Die Verwandlung.. Leipzig: Kurt Wolff Verlag, 1915, 1915.
Price: US$9606.48 + shipping
Description: 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. Dietz 27. 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. Wrappers neatly reglued to book block, light edgewear, contents unopened. A very good copy.
Seller: Peter Harrington. ABA/ ILAB., London, United Kingdom
Kafka, Franz. Metamorphosis (Verwandlung). Kurt Wolff Verlag, 1915.
Price: US$12500.00 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: First Edition, First Printing bound in the ORIGINAL boards. This is the TRUE FIRST hardcover edition. A wonderful copy with light wear to the boards. The binding is tight, and the pages are clean with NO writing, marks or bookplates in the book. Overall, a beautiful copy housed in a custom clamshell slipcase for preservation. We buy Kafka First Editions.
Seller: Magnum Opus Rare Books, Missoula, MT, U.S.A.