Ewers, Hanns Heinz

Alraune

Illustrated by Mahlon Blaine Hardcover, New York: The John Day Company, 1929. First Edition. Very Good+ in Fair dust jacket. First American Edition. Limited to 3,000 copies. Illustrated by Mahlon Blaine. Translated into English from the original German by Guy Endore. Hanns Heinz Ewers (1871-1943) was a German poet, philosopher, actor, and writer. He is best known for his horror novels, the best of which is Alraune. Alraune combines a middle ages German fable with early 20th century eugenics and nietzschean philosophy - a scientist professor in a lab artificially impregnates a prostitute with the semen of a hanged murderer. The child that results is adopted by the professor. Although Ewers' work was highly influential on the horror and fantasy genres, his first editions are hard to find because of his later association with the Nazi Party. He joined in 1931, but because he was not an anti-Semite and because he was gay, the Nazis banned his books while Americans and Brits condemned him for being a Nazi. Previous owner signature on free endpaper. Contains 12 full page illustrations by Mahlon Blaine and several other in text illustrations. Text and illustrations clean and bright. Front cover bright. Spine bright. Head of spine bumped. Dust jacket is present, but its in bad shape. Original price present. Most of DJ spine missing. Most of DJ front and back covers present with many closed tears. Dust jacket now protected in Mylar. ; 8vo 8" - 9" tall; 342 pages. [Item #79005]

Price: $375.00