West-östlicher Divan [West-Eastern Diwan] by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. Stuttgart: Cottaischen Buchhandlung [Johann Friedrich Cotta], 1819. German and some Persian.
First edition of the West-Eastern Diwan by German poet Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. With two engraved title pages; on the first, a Persian calligraphic inscription surrounded by a decorative frame. Second printing, with corrections on pages 7-9 and two errors in paginations (doubled pagination of pages 399-400 and missed pagination on pages 495-496).
The West-Eastern Diwan was published in 1819 and was considered Goethe's last great poetic work. It was greatly inspired by the culture of the Near East (and especially by the Persian poet Hafez, the first translation of his work into German being published in 1814).
[2] plates (title pages), 556 pp. 19 cm. Gilt edges. Good condition. Stains. Some creases and minor blemishes. Writing in pen and pencil on endpaper and first leaves (in the margins). Comments and pencil markings to several poems. Front and back boards detached, with tears and wear. Spine with open tears (one of them repaired).