Scarce with such attributes

Toller, Ernst ~ Seven Plays : Signed By The Author

John Lane The Bodley Head, London : 1935

The First UK printing published by John Lane The Bodley Head, London in 1935. The BOOK is in Very Good++ condition . Original grey cloth. Boards lightly spotted and the text-block and page edges are evenly toned. This is the second issue binding. The first state boards were black with red lettering. The complete WRAPPER is in Very Good++ condition and is correctly priced '8s 6d net' to the inner flap. The wrapper colouring is faded as is usual encountered. The original light blue colour can still be seen to the inner flaps. Light shelf-wear with a short closed tear to front cover near head of spine. The wrapper is protected in a removable Brodart archival cover. The book has been boldly signed (without dedication) by Ernst Toller to the front blank end-paper. A scarce and sought after signature. “And, finally, when a dictator came to power in Germany, a man who tolerated no writers unless they were prepared to become his slaves and obey him like dogs and glorify his inhuman teachings, they were one and all publicly burnt.” Toller was one of the best known dramatists in the Germany of the Weimar Republic and the most widely translated. Ralph Ley of Rutgers University, writes that in the 1960s Toller experienced “a four-fold rediscovery, first as the representative dramatist of activistic Expressionism, then as one of the most level-headed and realistic left-wing intellectuals of the republic, thirdly, as one of the more significant authors of Neo-Factualism, the literary movement associated most closely with Weimar culture, and fourthly, as the foremost spokesperson of German literature in exile until his suicide just before the outbreak of World War II.” This edition includes a new introduction by Toller. The book was signed in London in 1934 (“the scene of his involuntary yet voluntary exile”). He writes, “The plays collected in this volume are social dramas and tragedies. They bear witness to human suffering, and to fine yet vain struggles to vanquish this suffering. The first collected volume of Toller’s plays to appear in England; and the first editions overall of 'Transfiguration' (despite it being the first play authored by Toller), 'Draw the Fires!', and 'Mary Baker Eddy!' (co-written with Hermann Kesten). 'The Machine-Wreckers' had been published by Ernest Benn in 1923, 'Masses and Man' was published by The NonesuchPress also in 1923, 'Hinkemann' was first published by The Nonesuch Press under the title 'Brokenbow' in 1926. 'Hoopla!' was first published by Ernest Benn in 1928, and 'The Blind Goddess' was first published by The Bodley Head in 1934. A number of the plays were written during Toller’s prison sentence in Germany in the early 1920s. The collection was also published in the USA in the same year. Toller’s signature is very uncommon; all the better to find it in such a handsome collection of his plays. Collectible

BINDING: Hardcover
CONDITION: Very Good++
JACKET: Very Good++