Books

First edition, first printing, scarce, especially so in collectible condition, as here. The novel was one of three works (the others being Das Schloss and Amerika) unfinished at the time of Kafka's death in 1924. Though the author had instructed his friend Max Brod to destroy the manuscripts, Brod ignored his wishes and edited the works for publication. The covers were designed by the German-American artist George Salter, who later illustrated the first US edition of the novel's English translation in 1937. Octavo. Original green cloth, blue paper labels to spine and front cover printed in dark red, top edge yellow. Spine and extremities sunned, as often, light wear to head of spine, contents clean: a very good copy.

Der Prozess, known in English as 'The Trial', is a novel written by Franz Kafka. It tells the story of Josef K., a man arrested and prosecuted by a remote, inaccessible authority, with the nature of his crime revealed neither to him nor to the reader. The novel explores themes of powerlessness, the unknowable nature of authority, and the existential struggle of the individual against an absurd and inscrutable system.