Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Price: US$48.24 + shipping
Description: XV and 337 pages. Red halfcalf with gildering (Binding by J. Adams, back professionally restored, otherwise a good and clean copy) 8°. First edition. 850 gr.
Seller: Antiquariat Dr. Lorenz Kristen, Berlin, Germany
Price: US$350.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: SCARCE. Four volumes rebound in later 19th c. quarter calf over marbled boards, a Very Good set, calf worn at corners, boards a bit rubbed, lacking half titles and added engraved title pages, p.145 in Vol. IV misnumbered 149. From the personal library of noted medievalist Charle W. Jones, his signature FEP each volume. Thomas Carlyle's 3rd book appearance, to which he contributed a preface to the whole work, and biographical and critical introductions for the authors here included. The last volume comprises the first English edition of Goethe's "Wilhelm Meister's Travels". Size: 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall
Seller: Dale Steffey Books, ABAA, ILAB, Bloomington, IN, U.S.A.
Price: US$350.00 + shipping
Condition: Fair
Description: GERMAN ROMANCE: Specimens of Its Chief Authors; with Biographical and Critical Notices by the Translator of Wilhelm Meister and the Author of The Life of Schiller (i.e. THOMAS CARLYLE). FOUR VOLUMES (Complete in These 4 Volumes). Edinburgh: William Tait, Prince's Street, and London: Charles Tait, Fleet Street, MDCCCXXVII (1827). FIRST EDITION. Original hardcovers, gray paper covered boards, brown paper covered spines, printed title information on spines, 5" x 8", 337, 317, 309 and 352 pages respectively. Each Volume is complete with a half title and engraved title page. Early Thomas Carlyle book appearance, this was only his fourth work in book form. Carlyle greatly admired German writers and was instrumental in introducing them to the England through this, his 4 volume set of books. The four volumes are: Vol. I: Musaeus and Fouqué; Vol II: Tieck and Hoffman; Vol. III: Richter; and Vol. IV: Goethe (this 4 volume set is most renowned for this volume entirely on Goethe). All four Volumes were previously part of the CARLYLE COLLECTION of DR. SAMUEL A. JONES, with a decorative rubber stamp that states "CARLYLE COLLECTION / SAM'L A JONES" on the front free endpaper of each volume, and a second such stamp on the front pastedown of the first volume. In addition, each volume is hand numbered according to its place in the collection. The volumes are hand numbered 20, 21, 22 and 23, respectively. Dr. Samuel A. Jones was renowned collector of Thomas Carlyle. His entire collection was catalogued by the University of Michigan in 1919. The association gives this set a rather wonderful provenance. CONDITION: Volume I has a disbound front cover and is missing its spine covering. The spine covering of Volume II is almost completely chipped away, the spine coverings of Volumes III and IV are chipped, rubbed and worn, with the spine lettering only partially legible. The covers of all 4 Volumes are worn at the edges, with most edges worn through, and the paper starting to peel away at a number of places. Volume I has a clipping from an old bookseller's catalogue pasted to the front pastedown. The clipping lists a similar set of Carlyle books for 1 pound 5 shillings. The bookseller was Alfred Russell Smith (Soho, London). Internally, there is foxing, offsetting, some spotting and some shorelining, mainly to the first and last few pages of each Volume, otherwise the inner pages are pretty nice - complete, tight, bright, clean and unmarked. SCARCE FIRST EDITION SET OF THIS IMPORTANT THOMAS CARLYLE WORK with a WONDERFUL ASSOCIATION to one of the most notable COLLECTOR'S OF CARLYLE.
Seller: Blank Verso Books, Napa, CA, U.S.A.
Price: US$375.00 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: Four volumes bound in two, octavos, half titles to volumes II and III present, and engraved titles to volumes I, II, and III present, all four printed titles very lightly dust soiled, finely bound in contemporary three quarter blue morocco gilt extra, handsome set. The collation in this set agrees with Tarr with one exception; page 145 in volume IV is misnumbered 149, and is not so noted by Tarr. Carlyle's long fascination with German literature led him to produce this significant work, which had a profound effect on the English Romantic movement. It is the final great work produced by Carlyle on German literature, and follows his Life of Schiller (1825) and his translation of Wilhelm Meister (1824) It was printed but this one time in England, followed by an American edition (1841). Tarr Carlyle, A4.1; the very scarce first edition. This set will require extra postage with the exact amount depending upon the destination.
Seller: G. W. Stuart, Jr., ABAA(emeritus), Yuma, AZ, U.S.A.
Price: US$747.98 + shipping
Description: In four volumes. First edition. 8vo., cont. half black morocco, marble boards, raised bands, gilt compartments, (xvi),337,([338: blank); (iv),317 (318: printer's imprint); (iv),309, (310: printer's imprint) (311-312: blank); (iv),352pp. Bound with engraved titles in Vols. I, II, & III; bound without the half-titles. Ex-library with stamps on the titles and engraved frontispieces, and a small round paper label on the upper boards, boards a little rubbed, a bit of chipping to the tops of the spines but this is still a very nice, certainly a very good copy, of a scarce work. Comprised of 12 novellas and short stories, Woff notes that this is one of the key books in the transmission of the German Romantics to England Tarr A4.1; Wolff 113; Bleiler, The Guide to Supernatural Fiction 348.
Seller: David Mason Books (ABAC), Toronto, ON, Canada
Price: US$1601.08 + shipping
Description: First edition of Carlyle's translation, "one of the key books in the transmission of the German Romantics to England" (Wolff). Carlyle's collection of previously untranslated German Romantic novellas "was intended to build on the success of Thomas Carlyle's translation of Goethe's Wilhelm Meister's Apprenticeship (1824) and to continue his efforts to promote German culture as a necessary alternative to British empiricism. Carlyle sought to separate the cream of German avant-garde literature from the works of inferior writers that had flooded the literary marketplace in Britain and produced a distorted image of German culture. And he wished to establish German literature as an alternative source of cultural leadership for his age. In addition to garnering high praise for its editor and translator, these translations announced Carlyle's ambition to serve as an agent of cultural interaction. A deeply influential episode in the development of Carlyle's literary style and aesthetic sensibility, Carlyle's engagement with Hoffmann, Tieck, and Jean Paul can be seen in the stylistic innovations of such works as Sartor Resartus, The French Revolution, and Frederick the Great. German Romance also laid the groundwork for Carlyle's extraordinary burst of critical activity during the late 1820s. Carlyle's translations of the German Romantics remained the standard well into the twentieth century and many have never been superseded" (Cumming, p. 189). Tarr A4.1; Wolff 1131. Mark Cumming, The Carlyle Encyclopedia, 2004. 4 volumes bound in 2, octavo (185 x 114 mm). Later 19th-century half calf, twin green and red morocco labels, purple cloth sides, red speckled edges. Bound without terminal blank in vol. III, else complete with half-titles and 4 engraved frontispieces. Neat early ownership signature to front pastedown. Slight paper residue to half-title of vol. I, pp. 85/6 with closed tear not affecting text, paper repair at head of pp. 261/2 not affecting text, some foxing, soiling to vol. IV pp. 307-13. A very good copy.
Seller: Peter Harrington. ABA/ ILAB., London, United Kingdom