Die Verwandlung [The Metamorphosis], by Franz Kafka. Leipzig: Kurt Wolff, 1915 [date on front cover: 1916]. German.
A first edition copy of the novella "The Metamorphosis", the best-known work of Jewish writer Franz Kafka. In its original paper cover, with an illustration by Ottomar Starke. Before the publishing of the book, Kafka instructed the publishing house that "the insect itself is not to be drawn. It is not even to be seen from a distance", and so the illustration before us was chosen – a man storming out of a room hiding his face.
72, [6] pp, approx. 21 cm. Good-fair condition. Minor blemishes (mainly to margins). Ownership inscription from 1916 on the title page (in pencil). Stamps on the cover, the title page and several other leaves. Some leaves are detached. Tears along the edges of the cover and the spine. The front cover is detached, with a sticker on the upper margins. Placed in a custom-made cardboard case.