Hesse, Hermann. Die Morgenlandfahrt. S. Fischer, 1932.

Price: US$5000.00 + shipping

Condition: Near Fine

Description: First edition of this allegorical work, drawing on Hesse's knowledge of Asian cultures, and a landmark in his appropriation of the East, an element of his work that would develop in significance up to the creation of his masterwork, "The Glass-Bead Game". Briefly inscribed by Hesse to the Heidelberg poet Alfred Mombert, “Gruss für Alfred Mombert von H. Hesse vii. 41,” and rare thus. Mombert’s visionary works were highly regarded by the likes of Martin Buber, and would have certainly appealed to Hesse as well. At the Nazi ascendency he was relieved of his position at the Prussian Academy of the Arts, and he would die in 1942 as a result of illness sustained in the Gurs Internment Camp. Although Hesse signed and inscribed plenty of books, his better-known titles are genuinely scarce in presentation copies and rarely betray any particular merit as literary associations. Faint off-setting to end-papers, small stain to front cover, later ownership signature, else an excellent copy in a near fine dust jacket, a trifle worn at the head of the spine.

Seller: Silent Way Books, Glenside, PA, U.S.A.