Lot 111
"In the Penal Colony" - First Edition with a Dedication Handwritten by Franz Kafka
In der Strafkolonie [In the Penal Colony], by Franz Kafka. Leipzig: Kurt Wolff, 1919. German.
Copy from the first edition of the book "In the Penal Colony". Printed in 1,000 copies.
On the first page appears a handwritten dedication (in German): Für Erwin Arnstein, im Dankbarkeit für das Glück, das von ihn ausging ("For Erwin Arnstein, with many thanks for the happiness which he emanated"), signed "K" (Franz Kafka) and dated: Prague, 1923.
Erwin Arnstein was a teacher in the elementary school for Jews in Prague. The author Franz Kafka, whose niece was a pupil in the school, appreciated Arnstein's attitude towards his students, and in 1923, before Arnstein emigrated to Palestine, he awarded him this
copy of the book as a farewell gift.
For additional information about Arnstein and his acquaintance with Kafka, see: Kafka, Zionism and Beyond, edited by Mark H. Gelber, published by M. Niemeyer, Tübingen, 2004.
68, [2] pp, approx. 23 cm. Good condition. Slight stains and defects (mostly at margins). Cover almost completely detached, with defects and tears along the spine and at margins. A paper label with the title of the book is pasted on the front cover, slightly torn at margins.
