Collections of an Only Child: Seventy Years a Bibliophile, the Library of Justin G. Schiller

Warszawa: Spoldzielnia Wydawnicza, 1946. First edition. 8vo. (iv), 204, (2), 2 (ads) pp. Text in Polish. Stiff illustrated paper wrappers, lightly creased; all edges untrimmed; Lot also includes a copy of The Pianist: The Extraordinary Story of One Man's Survival in Warsaw, 1939-45 (London, 1999)

Scarce first edition of Wladyslaw Szpilman's famous World War II memoir, Smieric Miasta ("Death of a City"), detailing Jewish persecution and other atrocities perpetrated by the Nazis during the German occupation of Warsaw.

Wladyslaw Szpilman (1911-2000) was born into a Jewish-Polish family of musicians, his father was a violinist and his mother a talented pianist. Trained at the Chopin Academy in Warsaw, Szpilman became a star on Polish radio throughout the 1930s. His life was drastically changed by the German invasion of Poland and subsequent occupation, as he was confined to the infamous Warsaw Ghetto along with the rest of the city's Jewish inhabitants. Despite countless close calls, he managed to survive the war, and returned to his musical career afterward.

Szpilman wrote his memoir after the war was over, publishing the present volume in a very limited number of copies. His incredible story did not capture the public's attention however, as the wounds of war were still too recent, and it was actively suppressed by the Stalinist Polish government. By chance, Szpilman's son discovered a copy of the original work, and had it translated into German in 1998. Since then it has become one of the most well-known Jewish accounts of World War II, being translated into over 30 languages, and inspiring Roman Polanski's 2002 film, The Pianist.