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"Faust: '...Who art thou?'Mephistopholes: 'A portion of that power which is everDevising evil and producing good.'"
Goethe's Faust
Limited edition in English, 1838
Details
Goethe's Faust
Limited edition in English, 1838
GOETHE, Johann Wolfgang von (1749-1832). Faust. A Tragedy in Two Parts. Translated by Warburton Davies. London: Arthur Taylor, 1838.
First complete English translation of arguably the greatest work of European literature since Dante and Shakespeare. Extremely rare limited edition, this being no. 37 of just 50 copies printed, of which 40 were for sale. This copy is from the alchemical library of E.A. Hitchcock. The Faust legend, deriving from one Georg Faust (c.1480-1540), "an obscure figure, half scholar, half quack," was first put into writing in the latter part of the 16th century, and spread wide and far, inspiring the English playwright Christopher Marlowe. By the 18th century, these fables were well established in the popular imagination, and the subject of the man making a pact with the devil, and its attendant warnings of the dire consequences of dabbling in witchcraft and fruitless theological speculation, was to consume Goethe for most of his life. RBH/ABPC record no copies at auction.
Two volumes, octavo (194 x 118mm). Vol. 1: pp. xxiv + 267; vol. 2: pp. 379. (A few spots, offsetting from bookplate on flyleaves and titles.) Publisher's paper-covered boards, paper labels on spine, many gatherings unopened (a little chipped and rubbed, hinges tender); custom box. Provenance: Ethan Allen Hitchcock (1798-1870, Civil War Union general and alchemist; bookplate) – Emerich P. Korecz (bookseller; printed description).
Limited edition in English, 1838
GOETHE, Johann Wolfgang von (1749-1832). Faust. A Tragedy in Two Parts. Translated by Warburton Davies. London: Arthur Taylor, 1838.
First complete English translation of arguably the greatest work of European literature since Dante and Shakespeare. Extremely rare limited edition, this being no. 37 of just 50 copies printed, of which 40 were for sale. This copy is from the alchemical library of E.A. Hitchcock. The Faust legend, deriving from one Georg Faust (c.1480-1540), "an obscure figure, half scholar, half quack," was first put into writing in the latter part of the 16th century, and spread wide and far, inspiring the English playwright Christopher Marlowe. By the 18th century, these fables were well established in the popular imagination, and the subject of the man making a pact with the devil, and its attendant warnings of the dire consequences of dabbling in witchcraft and fruitless theological speculation, was to consume Goethe for most of his life. RBH/ABPC record no copies at auction.
Two volumes, octavo (194 x 118mm). Vol. 1: pp. xxiv + 267; vol. 2: pp. 379. (A few spots, offsetting from bookplate on flyleaves and titles.) Publisher's paper-covered boards, paper labels on spine, many gatherings unopened (a little chipped and rubbed, hinges tender); custom box. Provenance: Ethan Allen Hitchcock (1798-1870, Civil War Union general and alchemist; bookplate) – Emerich P. Korecz (bookseller; printed description).
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Heather Weintraub
Specialist, Books, Manuscripts, & Archives