Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Price: US$200.00 + shipping
Description: KAFKA, Franz. THE TRIAL. London: Victor Gollancz Ltd., 1937. 8vo. First British Edition. Pale blue cloth. As is: This is a candidate for rebinding. Spine missing, cloth soiled. Pages toned but clean, aside from one stain on verso of title page.
Seller: Boston Book Company, Inc. ABAA, Boston, MA, U.S.A.
Franz Kafka; Willa Muir [trans.]; Edwin Muir [trans.]. The Trial. Victor Gollancz, London, 1937.
Price: US$763.54 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: The first English language edition, first impression, of Franz Kafka's major twentieth century novel, 'The Trial'. The first English language edition of the Czech novelist's celebrated work, telling the story of a man arrested and prosecuted by a remote and bureaucratic authority, for an undisclosed crime.This translation into English, from the original German, was the work of husband and wife Edwin and Willa Muir, who were also the first English translators of 'The Castle'.Sheila Hodges, in her history of Gollancz, suggests that only around one thousand copies of the first edition were sold, many of those to circulating libraries, leaving relatively few still available.The first English translation of one of the best known works of a major figure of twentieth century literature. In the publisher's original cloth binding. Bumping to back strip head and tail, with cloth fading. Handling marks to front board. Small split to cloth at head of front joint, with board holding firm. Hinges intact. Internally, firmly bound. Pages clean and bright. Good
Seller: Rooke Books PBFA, Bath, United Kingdom
Kafka, Franz. The Trial. Gollancz, London, 1937.
Price: US$950.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Very scarce first edition in English of one of the greatest novels of the 20th century, a defining work in modernism and existentialism and Kafka's most famous work. Only posthumously published in German thanks to the efforts of Max Brod, the book had to wait another 10 years before appearing in the Muirs' English translation. It is estimated (in Sheila Hodges' history of the firm of Gollancz) that only about 1,000 copies of the first edition were sold, many of those to circulating libraries. Very few copies have survived in collectable condition. This copy is in the original blue cloth lettered in darker blue. No previous ownership marks or inscriptions, very light surface rubbing to spine and very light trivial foxing to paage edges. A perfectly sound example of this iconic work.
Seller: Dr Jeremy Parrott, London, United Kingdom
Price: US$962.45 + shipping
Description: First edition in English, first impression, one of an estimated 1,000 copies sold. The Muirs were instrumental in introducing Kafka to the anglophone world, and it is their rendering of The Trial's opening line, "Someone must have been telling lies about Joseph K.", that is widely quoted as one of the great first lines in literature. Edwin Muir's reassurance to Gollancz, who was concerned that there was no British audience for the 'kafkaesque', was later fully vindicated: "I feel K. will certainly have a future in this country and become the centre of a literary cult. I look upon [Kafka] as the greatest writer of modern times" (cited in Hodges, p. 101). The edition includes an epilogue by Kafka's literary executor, Max Brod. The Muir translations remain in print today. This novel was first published as Der Prozess (1925). Sheila Hodges, Gollancz: The Story of a Publishing House, 1928-1978, 1978. Octavo. Original blue cloth, spine lettered in dark blue. Book block square, spine faded and bumped at foot, foxing to edges and outer leaves, else clean. A very good copy.
Seller: Peter Harrington. ABA/ ILAB., London, United Kingdom
Kafka, Franz. THE TRIAL. Victor Gollancz Ltd, London, 1937.
Price: US$1000.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: The first edition in English, translated by Willa and Edwin Muir. Published posthumously in 1925, The Trial was organized and published by Kafka's friend and literary executor, Max Brod, despite Kafka's request that the manuscript be destroyed. In what may be Kafka's most pessimistic novel, a conscientious bank official is suddenly arrested, and must defend himself against charges about which he can get no information. Octavo. Original blue cloth binding, with dark blue titles. The spine is lightly faded, far less than usual; else very good or better.
Seller: johnson rare books & archives, ABAA, Covina, CA, U.S.A.
Kafka, Franz. The Trial. Gollancz, London, 1937.
Price: US$1020.00 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: The uncommon first English language edition of this classic 20th century novel. Translated by Willa and Edwin Muir, with an epilogue by Kafka's friend and champion Max Brod. 285 pages. First edition (first printing, with no additional printings noted). Spine faded; offsetting to endpapers, possibly from an old book covering; generally good; lacking the dust jacket. This copy, however, has an interesting provenance, with the ownership signatures of the Surrealist Gordon Onslow Ford and the Pulitzer Prize-winning Texas writer Larry McMurtry along with McMurtry's stirrup bookplate.
Seller: Downtown Brown Books, Portland, OR, U.S.A.
Kafka, Franz. The Trial. London, 1937. Gollancz, London, 1937.
Price: US$2424.55 + shipping
Description: First edition in English. 285 pp.; publisher's cloth.19 cm. FIRST ENGLISH EDITION of the Prozess.Translated by Willa and Edwin MUIR. With an Epilogue by Max Brod. The first printing in English of one of the most remarkable novels of the century. From the library of Malcolm Muggeridge, British man of Letters. With his fine book plate. A fine, fresh wonderful copy.
Seller: Meiwes, Stuttgart, Germany