KAFKA, Franz. Die Verwandlung. Leipzig: Kurt Wolff Verlag, 1915. 8o. Original pictorial wrappers; cloth folding case. FIRST EDITION of Metamorphosis, Kafka's best known work, published during the First World War. After the first appearance in the "Die Weissen Blätter," Kafka was eager to get the novel published in book form at Kurt Wolff. After learning that Ottomar Starke would illustrate the dust jacket, he wrote a letter to the publishing house, dated October 25, 1915: "The insect itself must not be illustrated by a drawing. It cannot be shown at all, not even from a distance." "Der Jüngste Tag" 22/23; Dietz 26; Wilpert/Gühring 4.