"Er aber, sags ihm, er kann mich im Arsch lecken."
Götz von Berlichingen mit der eisernen Hand. Ein Schauspiel.
Small 8vo. 206 pp. Contemporary half calf, with two labels to spine, stored in a two-piece leather slipcase.
€ 28,000.00
Rare first edition, self-published by Goethe and Merck in a very small press run. This first impression of the play about the maverick adventurer-poet Götz von Berlichingen contains the hero's famously profane "Swabian salute" unexpurged (p. 133); it was truncated in later editions. In spite of sluggish initial sales, the play enjoyed a sensational success, making the author instantly famous and calling forth severe criticism as well as praise.
Some brownstaining and fingerstaining. Provenance: handwritten ownership "Louis Prèschamps" (ca. 1880) on title-page; an old annotation on the final leaf has been removed. Acquired from the estate of the Frankfurt lawyer Wilhelm A. Schaaf (1929-2015), a specialist in economic, commercial and insolvency law.
Hagen 46. WG² 6. Goedeke IV, 3, 143, 2. Kippenberg I, 348. Brieger 682. Hirzel A 33. Speck 712. Goethe-Bibliothek Meyer 23.
