Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Price: US$250.00 + shipping
Description: 311pp. Octavo [19.5 cm] Red cloth covered boards with a gilt stamped title on the spine. Very good. The extremities are mildly scratched and bumped. The spine is sunned and rolled. There are multiple small splits and tears in the cloth at the ends of the spine. The edges of the text block are darkened and have a couple of tiny stains. The pages are browned, and have very occasional small, light stains. P. 163 has a small loss from the bottom fore edge corner. The book is sturdy. Treverton 31, Recknagel 435, Hagemann 17, Howard 1h. According to Edward N. Treverton, The Death Ship (Das Totenschiff) was the first book to appear under the Traven name.
Seller: Ken Sanders Rare Books, ABAA, Salt Lake City, UT, U.S.A.
Traven, B.. THE DEATH-SHIP: The Story of an American Sailor. Chatto & Windus, London, 1934.
Price: US$350.00 + shipping
Description: First edition in English. His first book and, arguably, his most famous, after THE TREASURE OF THE SIERRA MADRE. Translated from the German by Eric Sutton. Staining to rear boards otherwise very good.
Seller: Quill & Brush, member ABAA, Middletown, MD, U.S.A.
Traven, B.. The Death-Ship. The Story of an American Sailor. Chatto & Windus, London, 1934.
Price: US$350.00 + shipping
Description: First edition in English, first impression. Originally published as Das Totenschiff: Geschichte eines Amerikanischen Seemanns in 1926. 312pp. 8vo. First edition in English, first impression. Originally published as Das Totenschiff: Geschichte eines Amerikanischen Seemanns in 1926.
Seller: James Cummins Bookseller, ABAA, New York, NY, U.S.A.
FARRER, David. CAREER FOR THE GENTLEMAN. London: Chatto and Windus., 1934.
Price: US$413.41 + shipping
Description: First edition, first printing. Publisher's original yellow cloth with light blue titles to the spine, in the stylish Dorothea Braby illustrated dustwrapper. A very good copy, the binding square and firm, the cloth a little darkened to the spine but fresh. The contents, with some offsetting to the front endpaper are otherwise clean throughout and without inscriptions or stamps. Complete with the lightly rubbed and toned dustwrapper that is very slightly nicked at the spine tips. Not price-clipped (7s 6d net to the front flap). The advert to the rear panel is for B. Traven's The Death Ship. Scarce. "Here is a crime book of a new kind. Not that criminals have never been heroes of novels before; but Eric, the very up to date Raffles of 'Career for the Gentleman,' is one of whom many young men with fast motors and no strong sense of property might say 'There but the grace of God goes.'" - (dustwrapper blurb). This appears to be the the author's only novel, preceding a successful career as an editor and publisher at Secker and Warburg. Further details and images for any of the items listed are available on request. Lucius Books welcomes direct contact with our customers.
Seller: LUCIUS BOOKS (ABA, ILAB, PBFA), York, United Kingdom
Price: US$495.00 + shipping
Description: First Printing. Octavo (19.75cm); black cloth, with titles stamped in gilt on spine, and decorative elements embossed to front cover; burgundy topstain; dustjacket; [viii],372,[4]pp. Tiny crinkle at crown, with a touch of offset from jacket flaps onto endpapers, else Near Fine. Dustjacket is price-clipped, shelfworn, gently spine-sunned and lightly dusty, with shallow loss to crown, a small scuff to front panel, a faint stain at mid-spine, and several short tears (six of them neatly tape-mended on verso); Very Good only. Traven's own translation of his first novel, which was translated from the German by Eric Sutton for the UK edition published by Chatto & Windus. A novel set in the aftermath of World War I, centered around a group of merchant seamen who lack citizenship, money, and papers; it is in equal part an adventure novel, and a scathing indictment of abusive labor practices and authority. TREVERTON 32.
Seller: Lorne Bair Rare Books, ABAA, Winchester, VA, U.S.A.
Traven, B.. The Death Ship: The Story of an American Sailor. Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1934.
Price: US$750.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: 372pp. Octavo [21.5 cm] Black cloth. Restoration to jacket intermittently along the edges and along the fold of the rear flap. The Death Ship/Das Totenschiff was originally written in English in 1923 or 1924. Traven translated it into German at the request of Buchergilde Gutenberg editor Ernst Preczang who was impressed by the serialization of Die Baumwollpflucker in Vorwarts. Das Totenschiff was published in 1926. It was the first book to appear under the Traven name and its success established Traven's reputation. Traven's most brilliant novel. It is a sardonic work about identity and a satire on the faceless bureaucracy. The American sailor, Gales, has no papers; therefore, in the eyes of the authorities, he doesn't exist. In order to escape from Europe he is forced to board a "Death Ship." Considerably revised and rewritten from the Chatto & Windus edition with 61 additional pages, and is considered by many to be a superior translation. Treverton 32.
Seller: Ken Sanders Rare Books, ABAA, Salt Lake City, UT, U.S.A.
Traven, B.. The Death Ship: The Story of An American Sailor. Chatto & Windus, London, 1934.
Price: US$750.00 + shipping
Description: Second impression. 312 pp. Very good+ with good dustjacket. Some light wear and toning at the edges of the dustjacket; dustjacket spine sunned with some water spots or stains. Internally very good.
Seller: Ken Sanders Rare Books, ABAA, Salt Lake City, UT, U.S.A.
B. Traven. The Death Ship. The story of an American sailor. Chatto and Windus, London, 1934.
Price: US$922.22 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: First printing of the first edition of Traven's first book published in the English. Clean, bright red cloth. Uninscribed in fine, price clipped, pictorial dust jacket. No tears, creases, rubbing or other wear. Spine is uniformly but only slightly browned. there are two very small, faint foxing spots to front of jacket. Scarce.
Seller: Vortex Books, Teddington, MIDDX, United Kingdom
TRAVEN, B.. The Death-Ship - The Story of an American Sailor.. Chatto & Windus, London., 1934.
Price: US$985.82 + shipping
Description: First U.K. edition. Translated by Eric Sutton. Octavo. pp [viii], 312.Bookplate on front pastedown. Very good in very good, slightly nicked, dusty and marked dustwrapper spotted at the spine.
Seller: Peter Ellis, Bookseller, ABA, ILAB, London, United Kingdom
Traven, B. The Death-Ship. The Story of an American Sailor. London Chatto & Windus, 1934.
Price: US$990.00 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: First edition in English. Translated from the original 'Das Totenschiff: Geschichte lines Amerikanischen Seemanns' by Eric Sutton. A few spots of foxing to the page edges. Top edge dyed red, bottom edge untrimmed. Slight lean to the spine. 311 Pages. 1st Edition. Condition: Good. Dust jacket: Fair. Edge wear to the dust jacket 1cm piece missing to the lower front panel corresponding with the abrasion to the cloth. Some foxing and tanning to the spine of this price clipped jacket. Binding:Hardcover. Red cloth covers boards a touch dusty with a small abrasion to the lower front board.
Seller: Quagga Books ABA ; ILAB, Cape Town, South Africa
TRAVEN, B.. The Death Ship. Alfred A. Knopf, New York, 1934.
Price: US$1850.00 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: First American Edition. According to some reports, Traven originally wrote this novel in English and then translated it to German for publication in Berlin as Das Totenschiff in 1926. Chatto & Windus published the first English language version in London in 1934 with a translation by Eric Sutton. Traven disliked the Sutton translation and produced his own revised English language version, with 61 additional pages, for this American edition published later the same year. Near fine, with faint offsetting to endpapers, in a bright very good plus dustjacket that is price-clipped and has minor wear at spine edges and very light toning to spine panel. An excellent copy.
Seller: Fireproof Books, MINNETONKA, MN, U.S.A.
Price: US$1850.00 + shipping
Description: Octavo, pp. [1-8] [1-2] 3-372 [373-376: blank] [note: first and last two leaves are blanks], original decorated black cloth, front panel stamped in blind, spine panel stamped in gold, running Borzoi stamped in blind on rear panel, top edge stained red, fore-edge untrimmed, bottom edge rough trimmed. First U.S. edition. First publication of Traven's own English-language translation of DAS TOTENSCHIFF (1926), his first novel. The novel was first published in English by Chatto & Windus, utilizing an English text prepared by Eric Sutton. The UK edition preceded Knopf's edition by several months, but the first American edition, with text translated and revised by Traven, is the preferred version of the novel. A fine copy in very good printed dust jacket with touch of wear at spine ends and corner tips, some age-darkening to spine panel, some minor general dust soiling, and clipped price. Overall, an attractive example of the jacket, which is uncommon in nice condition. In custom open-face cloth slipcase. (#77517)
Seller: Currey, L.W. Inc. ABAA/ILAB, Elizabethtown, NY, U.S.A.
TRAVEN, B.. The Death Ship. The Story of an American Sailor.. London: Chatto & Windus, 1934, 1934.
Price: US$3498.06 + shipping
Description: First edition in English, first impression. Originally published as Das Totenschiff: Geschichte eines Amerikanischen Seemanns in 1926. As noted by the dust jacket blurb, "this sea story, which is a blend of the horrible, the pathetic and the sublime, is from every point of view one of the most extraordinary which post-war Europe has produced". Octavo. Original brown cloth, lettering to spine in gilt, top edge brown. With dust jacket. Housed in a custom brown morocco-backed folding box. Extremities very slightly bumped, browning to endpapers, else a near-fine copy. Spine of dust jacket toned and mark to front panel, else a very good example of an unclipped jacket.
Seller: Peter Harrington. ABA/ ILAB., London, United Kingdom
TRAVEN, B.. The Treasure of the Sierra Madre.. London: Chatto & Windus, 1934, 1934.
Price: US$7632.14 + shipping
Description: First edition in English, first impression. Originally published as Der Schatz der Sierra Madre in 1927 and the basis for the 1948 John Huston film starring Humphrey Bogart. The publisher's leaflet comprises a four page publication and provides reviews of The Death-Ship and The Treasure of the Sierra Madre. Octavo. Original brown cloth, lettering to spine in gilt, top edge brown. Publisher's promotional leaflet loosely inserted. Housed in a custom brown morocco-backed folding box. book label to front pastedown. Browning to endpapers and minor foxing to edges; a near-fine copy. Spine of dust jacket tanned, some other light soiling and dampstaining; a very good and crisp example of a clipped jacket.
Seller: Peter Harrington. ABA/ ILAB., London, United Kingdom