The Magic Mountain [SIGNED BY ILLUSTRATOR] [2 vols complete]

New York: Limited Editions Club, 1962. Limited edition. Hardcover. good+ to near fine. 1/1500. Quarto. Vol 1: (xvi), 343pp. Vol 2: (v), [1], 366pp, [1]. Grey, paper covered cardboard slipcase, light grey label with dark grey border and lettering mounted on spine. Bindings with light grey buckram over grey paper covered boards, debased motif on front covers with gilt letter "M" in the center of the motif. Bindings with brown label, gilt border and gilt lettering mounted on spines. Paper edges in forest green.

This limited edition, #87/1500 hand numbered and hand signed by illustrator Felix Hoffmann, contains beautiful color reproductions of the original wood engravings. The Magic Mountain (German: Der Zauberberg) is a novel by Thomas Mann, first published in German in November 1924. It is widely considered to be one of the most influential works of twentieth-century German literature. Mann's vast composition is erudite, subtle, ambitious, but, most of all, ambiguous; since its original publication it has been subject to a variety of critical assessments. For example, the book blends a scrupulous realism with deeper symbolic undertones. Given this complexity, each reader is obliged to interpret the significance of the pattern of events in the narrative, a task made more difficult by the author's irony. Mann was well aware of his book's elusiveness, but offered few clues about approaches to the text. He later compared it to a symphonic work orchestrated with a number of themes. In a playful commentary on the problems of interpretation, he recommended that those who wished to understand it should read it through twice.

Slip case with some water staining and foxing to covers. Sc separating at top right. Bumping to sc corners at the opening. Interior with offsetting to opposing pages of illustrations, not affecting the illustrations themselves. Slipcase in good+, bindings and interior in very good+ to near fine condition overall.