ars libri ltd.
rare and scholarly books
on the fine arts
ars libri ltd.
rare and scholarly books
on the fine arts
Catalogue 130-N: Modern Art: Rarities of the Avant-Garde
122 (GROSZ) Zur Mühlen, Hermynia. Was Peterchens Freunde erzählen. Märchen mit Zeichnungen von George Grosz. 31, (1)pp. 6 illus. by Grosz. Lrg. 4to. Wraps. (slightly worn). First edition (and the author’s first book). A carefully restored copy, the covers mounted with new endpapers, and the verso of each leaf archivally laminated. Rare.
Berlin (Der Malik-Verlag), 1921. $500.00
Hermann 1/249; Berlin: Malik 51; Lang 21; Raabe/Hannich-Bode 346.1; Melzwig 842.1; Lexikon sozialistischer deutscher Literatur p. 365f.
123
GROSZ, GEORGE
Die Räuber. Title/justification leaf, and 9 photolithographic plates, each signed in pencil by Grosz. Sheet size: 650 to 705 mm. x 467 to 540 mm. (25 5/8 to 27 3/4 inches x 18 3/8 to 21 1/4 inches). Folio. All contents loose, as issued. Ausgabe B: one of 30 numbered copies on Zanders Bütten, from the limited edition of 100 copies in all (Ausgaben A-B-C). (An inexpensive reprint edition of some 500-1000 unsigned copies on machine-made paper and slightly smaller format, known as the "Organisationsausgabe," was issued the following year, to be made available to labor unions).
"The next productive year with Malik, 1922, continued the ideological work which Grosz had done in 1921. The major portfolio of the year was ‘Die Räuber’ (The Robbers). The lithographs of ‘Gott mit uns’ two years earlier had concentrated upon exposing the military class. In a similar way the nine lithographs of ‘Die Räuber’ attacked and unmasked the predatory nature of the capitalists. Each lithograph was accompanied by a sentence from Schiller’s play ‘Die Räuber,’ a tragedy about a young man rebelling for personal reasons against society; the result was a revolutionary interpretation of the quotations from the play and a heightened revolutionary tone to the lithographs. Four years later Erwin Piscator gave a similar reading to ‘Die Räuber’ in his production at the State Theater in Berlin. While there is no specific evidence that Grosz’ portfolio inspired Piscator, it is quite probable, for they were friends throughout the twenties" (Lewis). The contrasts in it between the repulsive corpulence of the burgher class and anxious emaciation of the workers are drawn by Grosz with a zest unseen in the earlier portfolios, fleshing out, as it were, some of the essential vocabulary of his art for the first time. This copy without the publisher’s portfolio, and with intermittent light foxing, spotting and rippling; title-page somewhat worn.
Berlin (Der Malik-Verlag), 1922. $25,000.00
Dückers M V; Lang 37; Bülow 45; Hermann 172; Berlin: Malik 61; Lewis p. 143ff.
124
(GROSZ) Gasbarra, Felix
Preussische Walpurgisnacht. Groteskes Puppenspiel. (Sammlung Revolutionärer Bühnenwerke. Bd. IX.) 39, (1)pp. 1 plate in text by George Grosz. Sm. 4to. Wraps., printed in red and black on the front cover with a design by John Heartfield, showing a skeletal bat with outstretched wings, surmounted by an imperial crown, centered above the title. Somewhat worn.
Berlin (Der Malik-Verlag), 1922. $450.00
Lang 27; Bülow 41; Hermann 85; Berlin: Malik 56
125
(GROSZ) Kanehl, Oskar
Steh auf, Prolet! Mit 7 Zeichnungen von George Grosz. II. erweiterte Auflage. (Kleine Revolutionäre Bibliothek. Bd. 12.) 35, (1)pp. 7 full-page plates in text. 4to. Wraps., with front cover drawing by Grosz, and typography by John Heartfield. One of the rarest publications of the Malik-Verlag, this edition was preceded by an unillustrated version published in 1920 by the Prolet-Verlag, Erfurt.
Berlin (Der Malik-Verlag), 1922. $700.00
Lang 31; Bülow 49; Hermann 220; Berlin: Malik 67; Raabe/Hannich-Bode 150.2; Melzwig 329.3
126 GROSZ, GEORGE
"Siegfried Hitler." Broadside poster. Photolithograph on wood-pulp paper. Sheet size: 475 x 343 mm. (18 5/8 x 13 1/2 inches). Image size: 312 x 240 mm. (12 1/4 x 9 1/2 inches). Beneath the image, the following texts: "Ich schlage vor, dass die Leitung der Politik der deutschen Regierung ICH übernehme." "Der morgige Tag findet entweder in Deutschland eine nationale Regierung oder uns tot. Es gibt nur eins von beiden." So far as we have been able to ascertain, this broadside, based on a photolithograph by Grosz of 1922/1923, is unrecorded. It is unmentioned by Dückers, who gives extensive details of other versions and states of the image. Only two copies are known of the original photolithograph (Estate of George Grosz, signed, on Bütten; and Staatliche Graphische Sammlung, München, unsigned, on wood-pulp paper), neither of which carry the present texts beneath the caricature. "Siegfried Hitler" was afterwards utilized as the cover image for "Die Pleite," Heft 8 (November 1923), with the same text as here, but differently set beneath the image. A few small tears (some discreetly mended on verso), a few faint foldlines, one very small hole near bottom edge; generally clean and fresh in appearance.
$1,200.00
Cf. Dückers E90
127
GROSZ, GEORGE
Der Spiesser-Spiegel. 60 Berliner Bilder nach Zeichnungen mit einer Selbstdarstellung des Künstlers. 14, (2)pp., 60 plates. 4to. Cloth. Dec. d.j., designed by Grosz (mends). Also included at the outset is Walter Mehring’s brief text, "Die Spiesserbiologie." The rare just jacket was published and illustrated in the exhibition "Buchumschläge 1900-1950, aus der Sammlung Curt Tillmannn," Schiller-Nationalmuseum, Marbach a.N., 1971.
Dresden (Carl Reissner Verlag), 1925. $750.00
Lang 44; Bülow 67; Tillmann 423
128
(GROSZ, GEORGE)
Soldatenschinderei in der Republik. Antimilitärische Propaganda vor dem Klassengericht. 47, (1)pp. Orange wraps., with cover illus. by Grosz. George Grosz’s cover design shows a military officer kicking the pathetic figure of a man collapsed on the ground. Some markings in the text in blue pencil.
Wien (Arbeiter- und Soldaten-Verlag), 1925. $200.00
Bülow 74
129
(GROSZ) Mac Orlan, Pierre.
Port d’eaux mortes. Recueil orné de huit lithographes originales de Georges [sic] Grosz. (4), 80, (2)pp., 8 original lithographs. Lrg. 8vo. Orig. wraps. Glassine d.j. One of 1000 numbered copies on uncut vélin Lafuma, from the limited edition of 1260, printed by Coulouma and Duchatel. Dückers calls these either transfer- or photo-lithographs. Partly unopened.
Paris (Au Sans Pareil), 1926. $450.00
Dückers B-IV; Lang 48; Bülow 77; Lewis p. 292; The Artist and the Book 129; Rifkind 392; Rifkind (Davis) 964
130
(GROSZ) Toller, Ernst
Brokenbrow. A tragedy. Translated by Vera Mendel, with drawings by Georg [sic] Grosz. 50, (2)pp. 6 full-page illus. by Grosz. 4to. Boards with paper label (slightly chipped at spine). Printed on laid paper; illustrations printed by the Curwen Press.
London (Nonesuch Press) [1926]. $350.00
Lang 47; Bülow 79
131
GROSZ, GEORGE
Die Gezeichneten. 60 Blätter aus 15 Jahren. 1.-8. Tausend. 126, (2)pp. 60 full-page plates in text. 4to. Dec. wraps., with front cover drawing by Grosz. Book design by John Heartfield and Wieland Herzfelde.
Berlin (Der Malik-Verlag), 1930. $350.00
Lang 55; Bülow 89; Hermann 163; Berlin: Malik 233
