Books and Manuscripts

1. Fritz Kocher's Aufsatze
Leipzig: Insel Verlag, (1904). First edition. 12mo. 128 pp. Illustrated by Karl Walser. Original light orange paper-covered boards, stamped in black; top edge stained black, other edges trimmed; scattered minor spotting to text.

Walser's first published work.

2. Geschwister Tanner
Berlin: Bruno Cassirer, 1907. First edition. 8vo. 319 pp. Original illustrated paper-covered boards, designed by Karl Walser, joints slightly worn; top edge gilt, other edges trimmed.

3. Jakob von Gunten...
Berlin: Bruno Cassirer, 1909. Second edition. 8vo. 208, (2) (ads) pp. Original creme paper-covered boards, stamped in brown and in green; top edge stained black, other edges trimmed.

Walser's semi-autobiographical, and best-known work.

4. Aufsatze
Leipzig: Kurt Wolff, 1913. First edition. 8vo. 237 pp. Illustrated with tail-pieces by Karl Walser. Original illustrated creme paper-covered boards, designed by Karl Walser; top edge stained dark green, other edges trimmed.

5. Geschichten
Leipzig: Kurt Wolff, 1914. First edition. 8vo. 231 pp. Illustrated by Karl Walser. Original quarter brown leather over illustrated creme paper-covered boards, designed by Karl Walser, black morocco spine label, stamped in gilt; top edge stained black, other edges trimmed; contemporary inscription on front free endpaper.

6. Kleine Dichtungen
Leipzig: Kurt Wolff, 1914. First and limited edition, made for the Women's Association to Honor Rhineland Poets. 8vo. 311, (1) pp. Signed by Walser on half-title. Original illustrated creme paper-covered boards, designed by Karl Walser, stamped in gilt, spine toned; all edges trimmed.

During the production of this title, Walser was informed that he won an award from the "Women's Association for Honoring Rhineland Poets." It is the only public honor bestowed to the writer in his lifetime.

7. Der Spaziergang
Frauenfeld und Leipzig: Huber & Co., (1917). First edition. 12mo. 85, (1), (1) (ads) pp. Original illustrated orange paper-covered boards, designed by Otto Baumberger, lightly worn and soiled; all edges trimmed; ownership signature on half-title.

8. Poetenleben
Frauenfeld und Leipzig: Huber & Co., 1918. First edition. 8vo. 183, (2), (3) (ads) pp. Original quarter brown cloth over illustrated creme paper-covered boards, designed by Karl Walser; all edges stained green; front hinge worn; light foxing to endpapers.

9. Komoedie
Berlin: Bruno Cassirer, 1919. First edition. 12mo. 145, (1), (2) (ads) pp. Original illustrated creme paper-covered boards, designed by Karl Walser, spine lightly toned; top edge stained red, other edges trimmed; bookseller's ticket on front paste-down.

10. Die Rose
Berlin: Ernst Rowohlt, 1925. First edition. 8vo. 176 pp. Original creme illustrated paper-covered boards, designed by Karl Walser; all edges trimmed; book-plate on front free endpaper.

11. Grosse Kleine Welt
Erlenbach-Zurich und Leipzig: Eugen Rentsch, (1937). First edition. 8vo. 212 pp. Original creme cloth-covered boards, stamped in brown; top edge stained yellow, other edge trimmed; in dust-jacket, scattered wear; foxing to text block edges; embossed stamp "Ex Libris Geiser" on front free endpaper.

Lot also includes a second edition (first trade edition) of Kleine Dichtungen (Leipzig: Kurt Wolff, 1915).

A handsome collection of largely first editions in the original German. Although his writing had limited public popularity during his lifetime, Walser was well admired among his contemporaries, including Franz Kafka, Hermann Hesse, Stefan Zweig, Robert Musil, and Walter Benjamin. Recent reissues, as well as translations into English by New Directions and the New York Review of Books Classics, have introduced this Swiss modernist master to an entirely new generation of readers.