Auction 61 - Rare and Important Items
"In the Penal Colony" - First Edition with a Dedication Handwritten by Franz Kafka
Opening: $7,000
Sold for: $20,000
Including buyer's premium
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.
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.