Grass, Gunter

The Tin Drum

New York, NY: Pantheon Books/ Random House, Inc., 1962. First American Edition. Hardcover. "Already a best seller in Europe, this book introduces to American readers the most brilliant novelist to appear in Germany since the Nazis destroyed the freedom of German writers. The Tin Drum shows clearly that Gunter Grass has begun a new movement in German letters; yet he is also steeped in the great tradition of Goethe and Thomas Mann and may be considered their outstanding successor. In form, The Tin Drum is the autobiography of Oskar Matzerath, thirty years old, detained in a mental hospital, convicted of a murder he did not commit. It is taken down with the aid of his tin drum- the chosen symbol of his way of life- which helps him to remember his checkered past." (from front flap) The first & most famous novel by Gunter Grass (1927-2015), the acclaimed, prize-winning (albeit controversial) German novelist, poet & playwright. The symbolic, surreal-yet-all-too-real story of Oskar Matzerath, a Danzig (now Gdansk in Poland) resident who stunts his growth at the age of three & witnesses the tragic horrors of Nazi Germany, World War II & its aftermath from all their sides, is a twentieth-century classic, & the basis for the award-winning 1979 film version starring David Bennent as Oskar. Translated from the original German into English by Ralph Manheim. Hardcover in unclipped first-issue dust jacket (with $6.95 price & "2/63" printed on front flap), First American edition copyrighted 1962 (first published in then-West Germany during 1959). To the best of our knowledge & research this copy is a first printing, with no references to further printings. We found & have retained the venerable previous bookseller's business card, in mint condition. An unforgettable landmark of world literature; the foundational Grass collectible in its rarest original American English-language form. Book in fine condition with mild rubbing, occasional spotting to red-cloth front, back covers & spine; very light wear, mild fading to thin edges & corners of same; mild dulling of black & gilt illustrations, letters & graphics on spine & front cover (but all quite intact); mild rubbing, browning & a few spots to side & lower edges of text block (the former untrimmed as issued); very slight fading & a few short, faint scratches to black-dyed upper edge of same. Interior very fine with only light browning to blank paste-downs, endpapers & mostly to blank margins of page leaves; tiny bumps at mostly upper corners of a few leaves. Dust jacket relatively good-to-near-fine with mild-to-moderate rubbing, browning, scratching & creasing to front, back covers, esp. spine & flaps; mild wear & some tiny bumps, creases at edges & corners of same; blank areas of chips & tears with slight loss of paper at esp. lower spine-edge & corners, lower edge of front cover near right corner, upper right edge & corner of front flap (with price intact) & upper right corner of rear flap. An extra handling fee will be added for shipping due to the weight of this item. Fine / Good- Near Fine. [Item #4815]

Price: $125.00