Inscribed to Gusti Adler, Max Reinhardt's "right hand"

Friedell, Egon. Kulturgeschichte der Neuzeit.

€ 2,800.00

Presentation copy inscribed by the author in pencil on the flyleaf of the first volume: "Der geliebten Gusti / von ihrem aufrichtigen Seelenfreund / Egon Friedell / Berlin, Februar 1930" ("To my beloved Gusti from her sincere soulmate Egon Friedell").

The printed dedication of Friedell's magnum opus is to the great director Max Reinhardt; the recipient of the present copy's autograph inscription was Reinhardt's personal secretary. Auguste (Gusti) Adler was born in Brixen in 1890, the daughter of the painter Maria Adler and the country squire and later journalist Heinrich Adler, the brother of Victor Adler, founder of the Austrian Social Democratic Workers' Party. Her sister was the artist and conservator Marianne Adler. After training as a sculptor with Richard Kaufungen in Vienna, Gusti focused on painting and arts and crafts, also publishing essays in the "Wiener Fremdenblatt" since 1913. Upon relocating to Berlin, she contributed to Viennese and Berlin newspapers under the pseudonym "Christoph Brandt" and edited works by Jean Paul and Georg Forster. In 1919 her childhood friend Helene Thimig introduced her to Max Reinhardt, and for the next two decades she served as his personal assistant, organising almost every detail both of his private life and his many stage productions, especially those at the Salzburg Festival. In 1939 she followed Reinhardt into exile in the USA and collaborated on his "Workshop for Stage, Screen and Radio". After Reinhardt's death in October 1943 she worked in Hollywood at Warner Bros.' Documentation Department, retiring when she turned 80. Her biography of Max Reinhardt appeared in 1946, followed by a second volume in 1980. She passed away in Hollywood in 1985.

First volume: 4th-6th printing; 2nd volume: 1st-6th printing, third volume: 1st-12th printing. Volume 2 has an inserted card from the publisher: "Im Auftrag des Verfassers".