Description:

T. Mann Signed 1st American Ed. "This War"

A first American edition of Thomas Mann (1875-1955), "This War" (New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1940), signed and inscribed by Mann in English on the front loose endpaper as: "To / Ted Campbell / Very glad to have met him / N.Y. 18. Dec. 1940 / Thomas Mann." Translated from the German by Eric Sutton. Hardcover, with brick red boards and gilt-lettered spine. Mann's initials and the "coursing Borzoi" dog emblem are embossed on the front and back covers respectively. With a remarkably well-preserved original dust jacket with the price of "$1.00 net" located on the left flap, unclipped. Expected wear including light, mostly even toning, with minor foxing confined to the front loose endpapers. Sun-fading to the spine and back dust jacket cover, with minor wrinkles and chips to the spine, spine extreme, and headband, otherwise near fine, being protected by Mylar. 5.375" x 8.25" x .5625." 8vo. 68pp. Also accompanied by a vintage printed invitation to a birthday celebration for Thomas Mann, hosted by Alfred A. Knopf in conjunction with the American Booksellers Association Annual Convention on May 15, 1940.

Thomas Mann wrote the manuscript for what would become "This War" between November 31 - December 23, 1939, while in exile. The lengthy article, with its working title "On War and Its Aims," had originally been intended for publication in "The New York Herald Tribune." It's first German printing under the title "Dieser Krieg" appeared in a limited edition run in Amsterdam, but was destroyed following the 1940 Nazi invasion of the Netherlands. German-language "camouflage" reprints quickly followed, though printed outside of Nazi Germany.

Novelist and short story writer Thomas Mann had been awarded the 1929 Nobel Prize in Literature in recognition of such works as "The Magic Mountain" (1924). Mann was also one of the most high-profile German writers to flee Nazi Germany in 1933. Mann first sought refuge in Switzerland. After the outbreak of World War II in September 1939, Mann's American publisher Alfred A. Knopf helped the writer and his family emigrate to the United States, where they lived between 1939-1953. Mann, along with other famous German self-exiled expatriates such as Hermann Hesse and Erich Maria Remarque, formed their own literary subgenre of "Exilliterature," or "exile literature," in which they criticized the Nazi regime.

Thomas Mann's first American editions of "This War" are rare when found in their original dust jackets, and rarer still when signed. A similar first edition of this title, signed by Mann but without the inscription, is listed on Abebooks.com for $800.

This item comes with a Certificate from John Reznikoff, a premier authenticator for both major 3rd party authentication services, PSA and JSA (James Spence Authentications), as well as numerous auction houses.

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