Faust. Ein Fragment. - [PMM 298 - THE FAUST LEGEND]

Leipzig, Göschen, 1790. Orange cardboard binding (presumably the original!) with gilt title-labet to top of spine. Corners bumped, and wear along hinges and capitals. Overall a very nice and charming copy, tight, and completely unrestored. Some brownspotting throughout, but overall very nice. With the famous engraved frontispiece depicting Faust in his study, by Lips, after Rembrandt (loose) and the tittle-page stating ""Goethe's Schriften. Siebenter Band."", with the large engraved vignette by Lips, picturing Bätely bandaging Jery's hand (different from the ones in the seven other volumes), and the half-title stating ""Faust. Ein Fragment"" with ""Goethe's W. 7. B."" to the foot (repeated on all quires). Old owner's name to verso of frontispiece, otherwise no markings or annotations of any kind.

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The scarce first printing, in the corrected variant Hagen So, of one of the peaks of world literature, the main work by the greatest German poet ever, and one of the all-times greatest writers of the world, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. ""Faust"" was first printed, as it is here, as volume seven of Goethe's Schriften in eight volumes from 1787-1790, and was also published separately, likewise under the title ""Faust. Ein Fragment"". The printing of Faust in the seventh volume of Goethe's works is the original printing after the manuscript of the poet. There are two printings of this volume, between which there is traditionally said to be no precedency, although So has been corrected, which Sm has not. The present copy is Hagen variant So, without the misprints (see Hagen 11:7, So), which can be identified by eg. the lack of the repetition of the three lines in pp. 144-145, which appear in Sm (see Hagen, p. 12). Few other writers have been as influential as Goethe, and his works were an immense source of inspiration to everything from drama and music to science and philosophy. He is generally accepted as one of the most important thinkers within Western culture, and his main work, Faust, is considered one of the most important and influential works of world literature. ""If Goethe may justly be called the last representative of the renaissance ideal of the ""oumo universale"", his ""Faust"" embodies the sum total of his poetical growth."" (Printing and the Mind of Man: 298).""Faust"" is arguably the work for which Goethe is most famous, and this is not without reason. The novel emphasizes the strength of the individual and the right to freely investigate aspects of human and divine character. The novel also fights for man's right to determine his own destiny, and is thus considered the first great literary work in the spirit of modern individualism. Faust is also considered highly relevant to science and scientific thought, as Goethe here offers a holistic and non-analytic approach to these areas. The present volume 7 from 1790 has two vignettes: ""Bätely verbindet dem Jery die Hand"", H. Lips fec."" and ""Faust im Studierzimmer, ein am Fenster erscheinendes magisches Zeichen betrachtend"", H. Lips sc. (nach Rembrandt) (see Hagen 11:7). On the last page is written ""Leipzig, gedruckt bey Christian Friedrich Solbrig"" (see Hagen 11). It also includes the separate texts ""Jery und Bätely"" (pp. 169-224) and ""Scherz, List und Rache"" (pp. 225-320). PMM 298 (being the 1834 ed., not the real first)" Hagen 11,7 - So.