{"product_id":"one-of-german-literature-s-most-unsettling-voices-in-viennese-master-binding","title":"One of German Literature’s Most Unsettling Voices in Viennese Master Binding","description":"\u003ch3\u003eHeinrich von Kleist’s \u003cem\u003eErzählungen\u003c\/em\u003e\n\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eKLEIST, Heinrich von. \u003cem\u003eErzählungen.\u003c\/em\u003e 3 volumes. Berlin, Bruno Cassirer, 1924.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eA finely preserved Bruno Cassirer edition of Heinrich von Kleist’s collected stories, bound in an elegant contemporary Viennese master binding signed by A. Günther of Vienna and preserved together in the original slipcase with leather edges.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eCombining one of the great names of German Romantic literature with the refined craftsmanship of the Viennese interwar binding tradition, the set unites literary importance with exceptional physical presence. Printed on uncut Bütten paper and housed in richly gilt brown calf bindings of remarkable restraint and precision, the volumes embody exactly the kind of cultivated Central European bibliophilic culture that continued to flourish in Vienna and Berlin between the wars.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eEdition \u0026amp; Physical Description\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThree volumes. Large duodecimo format (approximately 17.5 × 11 cm).\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePrinted in Berlin by Bruno Cassirer in 1924 in Fraktur type on uncut mould-made Bütten paper. Bound in contemporary brown calf signed “A. Günther Wien,” with multiple gilt fillet borders to the covers, gilt corner asterisks, richly gilt spines, and all edges gilt. Preserved together in the original board slipcase with leather edges.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe bindings remain especially attractive, with bright gilt throughout and only light shelf wear. Internally the volumes are notably fresh and clean, preserving the desirable uncut state of the paper. The original slipcase survives unusually well, with only minor rubbing to the extremities.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eKleist and the Modern Mind\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eFew writers in German literature feel as psychologically modern as Heinrich von Kleist.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAlthough writing in the early nineteenth century, Kleist repeatedly anticipated the instability, violence, moral ambiguity, and existential anxiety more commonly associated with twentieth-century literature. His prose strips away the harmonies of classical idealism and replaces them with fractured consciousness, sudden catastrophe, obsession, juridical paradox, erotic tension, and the terrifying unpredictability of human behaviour.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe stories gathered here include several of the foundational works of German prose fiction, among them \u003cem\u003eMichael Kohlhaas\u003c\/em\u003e, \u003cem\u003eDie Marquise von O…\u003c\/em\u003e, and \u003cem\u003eDas Erdbeben in Chili\u003c\/em\u003e. Each reveals Kleist’s extraordinary ability to construct narratives of unbearable tension in which ethical certainty continually collapses under psychological and social pressure.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eKafka, Thomas Mann, Musil, and countless later writers recognized in Kleist one of the true precursors of literary modernity.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eBruno Cassirer and the Art of the Book\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe choice of publisher is especially fitting.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eBruno Cassirer was among the most refined literary and artistic publishers of early twentieth-century Germany, celebrated for combining serious literary culture with exceptional standards of typography, paper, and book production. Cassirer editions frequently attracted collectors not merely for their texts but for their material beauty and understated elegance.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe present set belongs fully to that tradition. The generous Bütten paper, the careful proportions of the volumes, and the restrained typographic design create a distinctly cultivated reading object intended for private libraries of considerable sophistication.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eThe Viennese Binding of A. Günther\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe bindings themselves are of notable interest.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe signed stamp “A. Günther, Wien” identifies the workshop of Albert Günther, active in Vienna during the early twentieth century and associated with the city’s distinguished craft tradition in fine bookbinding. Contemporary sources place the bindery at Lerchenfelderstraße 6 in Vienna’s eighth district, while documentary traces show Günther lecturing publicly on the history and techniques of bookbinding as early as 1907. His lecture was subsequently published under the title \u003cem\u003eDas Binden des Buches\u003c\/em\u003e in 1908.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe present bindings exemplify the restrained elegance characteristic of Viennese luxury binding in the interwar period. Rather than excessive ornament, the design relies upon precision: repeated gilt fillets, small gilt corner stars, balanced spine tooling, and the warm surface of finely handled calfskin. The result feels architectural, disciplined, and unmistakably Central European in aesthetic temperament.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eParticularly desirable is the survival of the original slipcase together with the all-edge gilt condition of the volumes themselves, features often lost through use.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003ch3\u003eCondition\u003c\/h3\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eAn unusually fresh and attractive set.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe brown calf bindings remain bright and elegant with only light expected shelf wear. The gilt decoration to boards and spines is exceptionally well preserved. The text blocks are clean and crisp throughout, with no markings noted. The uncut Bütten paper survives in particularly desirable condition.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe all edges gilt remain bright and intact. The original board slipcase with leather edges is structurally sound with only minor rubbing at the extremities.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Atelier Zweig Rare Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":46862498070716,"sku":null,"price":650.0,"currency_code":"USD","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0736\/1285\/3436\/files\/kleist-1.png?v=1779565273","url":"https:\/\/atelierzweig.com\/products\/one-of-german-literature-s-most-unsettling-voices-in-viennese-master-binding","provider":"Atelier Zweig Rare Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}