The Prophet.

New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1923. First edition of the author's masterpiece. Octavo, original publisher's black cloth decorated in gilt, illustrated with 12 collotype plates by the author. In near fine condition. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box by the Harcourt Bindery. A scarce and desirable example of the elusive title. The first printing consisted of a run of 2,000, of which Knopf sold 1,159 copies. One of the most influential works of the 20th century, was one of the first books Gibran wrote in English. It contains a collection of poetic essays that are philosophical, spiritual, and, above all, inspirational. It enjoyed a tremendous resurgence in the 1960s and 1970s, taking its place alongside such texts as The Catcher in the Rye and Catch-22 as a countercultural cornerstone. A collection of philosophical, spiritual, and, above all, inspirational poetic essays, the book is divided into twenty-eight chapters covering such sprawling topics as love, marriage, children, giving, eating and drinking, work, joy and sorrow, housing, clothes, buying and selling, crime and punishment, laws, freedom, reason and passion, pain, self-knowledge, teaching, friendship, talking, time, good and evil, prayer, pleasure, beauty, religion, and death. It has been translated into well over 40 languages. By 2012, it had sold more than nine million copies in its American edition alone since its original publication in 1923. "Gibran was that rare phenomenon, a mystical philosopher, and a mystical philosopher who was also a poet; a mystical philosopher who expressed himself with a flowing perfection of language that can only be termed biblical, and with a depth of insight and wisdom that harks back to the most profound occult lore of the East" (New York Times).