Metamorphosis by Kafka Franz, Signed (6 results)

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. Hardcover with slipcase. Gray leather spine (somewhat faded) and gray decorative paper over boards. Printed on heavy handmade paper. 61 pages. Very good condition. Translated by Willa and Edwin Muir. Illustrated by Jose Luis Cuerva with fine etchings, each with tissue guard. Signed by the illustrator on the limitation page. A limited edition of 1,500 copies of which this is 1,366. Monthly LEC newsletter tucked inside (Sept 1984) along with a letter from the Club announcing that the LEC is returning to printing by letterpress and offering a renewal discount. Slipcase is gray decorative paper over boards, with gold lettering on the spine. It is also in very good condition. Measures 8.5 x 11 inches. These come from a single collection of more than 250 LEC books. If you'd like to see the whole list (or photos of any of the volumes) please send me an email. Extra shipping will be required for international or priority shipping in order to get the books and slipcases to you safely. Signed by Illustrator(s).

Hardcover. Jose Luis Cuevas (illustrator). Large octavo (8-1/4" x 11") bound in quarter gray-green goatskin with paper covered boards. Translated by Willa and Edwin Muir with an introduction by Robert Coles. Illustrated with five subtle yet striking ORIGINAL FULL-PAGE ETCHINGS by Jose Luis Cuevas specially created for this edition. Copy #887 of 1500 numbered copies SIGNED by the artist on the colophon page. Monthly Letter laid in. Typical sunning to the spine and a few small rubbed spots to the edge of the front board. Still Near Fine in a Near Fine slipcase with some rubbing on the backstrip.

Kafka's famous novella from the Limited Editions Club with interpretive illustrations from Mexican artist, José Luis Cuevas (1934-2017). This copy in a unique design binding from Czech artist, Jarmila Jelena Sobotova, former student of Jan Sobota (1939-2012). A copy of Sobotova's own description of this project is included and sheds some light on her process of creating this tremendous volume: "The top and back covers decorations are based on Cuevas interpretation of the story - metamorphosis of a man. There are two mirror images that appears skewed in abstract way. This design was created by cutting out the shapes in the leather after the book was covered. The depressions were filled with leather dust and painted with (insect like) acrylic colors." Accompanying the book is an exhibit catalogue featuring the works of both Jan and Jarmila, from the Mildred Hawn Exhibition Gallery at SMU in Dallas, 1995, which both artists have signed. Quarto, 28x21cm, 61pp. Illustrations by José Luis Cuevas, and signed by him at the colophon. Design binding by Jarmila Jelena Sobotova. French structure, full black goatskin with mirror image, green cutout designs on upper and lower boards. Green morocco spine label in the shape of a pedestal with an apple balancing on top, lettered in gilt. Top edge painted green, hand sewn head and tailbands in black and green silk. Green and black marbled endpapers by Sobotova. Fine condition in matching Solander box Limited to 1500 signed copies, this being #858.

Unique Inscribed copy of this Limited Edition of 1500 hand-numbered copies signed by the artist, José Luis Cuevas. THIS COPY WITH ADDITIONAL INSCRIPTION AND ORIGINAL PEN AND INK DRAWING BY THE ARTIST. With etchings on tissue-guarded plates and drawings by José Luis Cuevas created specifically for this publication. Large 8vo, hand-cased at the Gray Parrot bindery in quarter gray-brown calf over textured paper-covered boards, the spine lettered in gilt within a blank embossed frame, in the original slipcase. xii, 61, [1]. Internally a pristine copy, the binding also fine but for a light touch of sun and one small abrasion to the calf of the spine, the slipcase still very nice with only minor age evidence. UNIQUE INSCRIBED COPY WITH AN ORIGINAL DRAWING BY JOSÉ LUIS CUEVAS. The famous Mexican Surrealist has inscribed this copy "La Vida de un hobre . with a bold signature and a very large pen and ink drawing filling much of the front blank page. The book itself is a fine production, printed on mold-made paper specially produced for this edition by Cartiere Enrico Magnani. It was designed by Ben Shiff, set in American Monotype and the etchings were printed at the Water Street Press. In all Kafka's surreal fable is given a very contemporary and highly artistic twist, making this one of the most original and striking productions for the club for quite some time.

the 6th book from the 47th Series, this being #1477 of 1500 copies. Translated by Will and Edwin Muir and introduction by Robert Coles. Illustrated and signed by Jose Luis Cuevas with pen drawings. Drawings printing at Wild Carrot Letterpress and etchings printed at the Water Street Press. Book design by ben Shiff and printed by Wild Carrot Letterpress. Set in monotype Deepdene on cream-white mold made Cartiere Enrico Magnani paper. Bound by Gray Parrot in quarter mole-gray Niger goat and brown-gray paste-paper. 76 pages, 8 x 10 1/2 inches. Print info from the 1985 Biblipgraphy #539.

The artist's portfolio suite of 120 copies only, this copy signed by Coester on the half-title in pencil, in a deluxe folder, and out of series; together with the first illustrated edition, number 30B of 600 copies, also illustrated by Coester and published later the same year. Featuring starkly different artistic styles, these two rare publications form the first illustrations of Kafka's "ungeheuren Ungeziefer" and serve as essential companions. Published in the Czech language of Kafka's native Bohemia, the book is also the first translation of The Metamorphosis into any language. The German artist Otto Coester (1902-1990) was a member of a close circle of Kafka's admirers and he may have known Kafka personally. Some scholars have therefore posited that he "had some inside knowledge of Kafka's vision" and the scholar Richard Lawson regarded Coester's illustrations of the insect as the most authentic (Gallagher, p. 134). Whereas the portfolio volume uses surrealist imagery that was apparently unpublishable in book form, the book publication uses an entirely different set of illustrations in a more rustic style. Coester's curious creature, however, retains its basic anatomy in both works and is depicted crawling upon a myriad of hands. During his lifetime, Kafka was anxious to never see the insect depicted. He wrote to his publisher upon learning that his Die Verwandlung (1915) was to have an illustrated dust jacket, "the insect itself must not be illustrated by a drawing. It cannot be shown at all, not even from a distance" (25 October 1915). This set is accompanied by an additional loose print of the insect, reproducing the illustrated half-title of the portfolio and issued with the Czech magazine Nejmení Revue (May 1930). The magazine, included here, also contains a brochure advertising Coester's book edition. This out-of-series copy of the portfolio is bound in card of superior quality and has the stamp in gilt to the left of the front cover, as opposed to being stamped centrally in black. It was published as the 97th volume in the Dobrého Díla ("Good Work") series in April 1929. The book edition was published as the 99th volume in Dobrého Díla in July 1929 in three issues: 50 "A" copies on Holland, 150 "B" copies on buff paper (as here), and 400 "C" copies on white paper. David Gallagher, Metamorphosis: Transformations of the Body and the Influence of Ovid's Metamorphoses on Germanic Literature of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries, 2009. Together, 2 items. Portfolio, quarto, pp. 12, leaves loose as issued, illustrated half-title, 6 loose plates (with 5 tissue guards) being heliogravure reproductions of Coester's pen-and-ink drawings. Book, duodecimo, 7 illustrations in the text, grotesque initials incorporating the insect printed in red. Title pages of both printed in red and black. Text in Czech. Portfolio in original brown folder with inner plain paper folder, motif printed in gilt on front cover. Book in original white wrappers, spine and front cover lettered in dark red. All housed in a custom solander box with labels reproducing the illustrations. Foxing to inner folder of portfolio, contents unaffected. Book wrappers a little soiled, front inner hinge split. Together, a near-fine set.