Friedrich Nietzsche (1844-1900) German, (3) Versions of Thus Spake Zarathustra. This lot is made up of three versions of Thus Spake Zarathustra by Friedrich Nietzsche: the first version is a first edition by Modern Library from 1917, the next is an edition by George Allen & Unwin printed in 1923, and the last is by the Heritage Press from 1967. 

Size: (Largest) 11 X 8 1/2 in. 

#6490 . 

Friedrich Nietzsche ((1844-1900) was a German philologist, poet, cultural critic and composer who became one of the most important of all modern thinkers. (A philologist is a person who studies the history of languages.) The book was originally published in four volumes between 1883 and 1885, and the protagonist was Zarathustra, more commonly called Zoroaster in the West. The character of Zarathustra first appeared in an earlier book by Nietzsche, The Gay Science, and Thus Spake Zarathustra deals with ideas about the Übermensch, the death of God, the will to power, and eternal recurrence. (Translated, the Ubermensch was the overman, and Nietzsche celebrated Goethe as an actualization of the Übermensch.)  

In 1889, at the age of 44, Nietzsche suffered a collapse and afterward a complete loss of his mental faculties, with paralysis and vascular dementia. He lived his remaining years under the care of his family until his death in 1900. After he died, his sister Elisabeth became the curator and editor of his manuscripts, and unfortunately she edited his unpublished writings to fit her German ultranationalist ideology, often twisting and contradicting Nietzsche's stated opinions, which were explicitly opposed to antisemitism and nationalism. Through her published editions, Nietzsche's work became associated with fascism and the Third Reich.   

The Modern Library version is a brown leatherette and one of the first twelve books published  by Modern Library. There is no date inside the book, but there is seldom any printing information or dates of publication for Modern Library books published between 1917 and 1919, and the book was published in May 1917, according to Toledano’s The Modern Library Price Guide 1917 - 2000. The book is a brown leatherette with gilt lettering on the spine and the Boni and Liveright colophon in gilt on the front cover, marbled endpapers, a list of the first twelve books just issued by The Modern Library on the frontis page - the list is called the catalog page and is Type C1, according to Toledano - then the title page, which has the Modern Library / Boni and Liveright colophon and “Boni and Liveright” listed as the publisher at the bottom of the page, three pages of Contents (5 - 7 in Arabic numbers), an Introduction by Nietzsche’s sister (Elizabeth Forster-Nietzsche) from 9 to 21, and the text runs from page 25 to 325.  

Modern Library was founded in 1917 and had a distinctive colophon, which helps to  identify first editions from that period: it had the BL emblem of Boni and Liveright on the front cover, with the words Modern Library above the BL emblem, and it had the same emblem on the title page. (The colophon changed in 1925, but the original colophon is present here.)  

Toledano says this is book number nine of the first twelve Modern Library books, and it is binding Type 1 with logo Type 1 and the 325 pages needed to be a Modern Library first edition, and a second edition would have 18 titles listed on the “Just Issued” page and “second printing” stated in the book, which is lacking here, so this is clearly a first edition by Modern Library. 

The book measures 6 11/16 x 4 1/2 inches wide and is in great condition. The binding is tight, the gilt is bright, the pages and text are clean, with a tad of rubbing at the heel and crown, and overall a crisp copy of this version of Thus Spake Zarathustra.  

The second version was published by George Allen & Unwin in 1923 and is titled Thus Spake Zarathustra, A Book For All And None, it was translated by Thomas Common, and it is number 666 of a limited edition of 1500 copies from the sixth edition of February 1930. The book has gilt lettering on the spine, an embossed portrait of Nietzsche on the front cover, blank endpapers, a clarifying title page which says The Complete Works Of Friedrich Nietzsche, The First Complete and Authorized English Edition, Edited by Dr. Oscar Levy, Volume Eleven, and the title at the bottom of the page. It was printed in Great Britain at the Edinburgh Press and has four pages of Contents (v - viii), An Introduction by Mrs. Forster-Nietzsche (ix - xxvi), the text is  402 pages long, followed an Appendix with Notes by Anthony Ludovici (403 - 458), four pages of ads at the rear for books by Nietzsche, and uncut pages.  

The book measures 8 x 5 3/4 inches wide and is in great condition, with a tight binding and clean pages and text, and the only blemishes are bumps and light rubbing on the heel and brown spots on the title pages in front and the ads in the rear. A very attractive copy of this rare version by Allen & Unwin.  

The last version of Thus Spake Zarathustra was published by the Heritage Press and put out by George Macy in 1967, and it comes with a slipcase. The book measures 11 x 8 1/2 inches wide, with a gray-blue spine with white letters, patterned covers, blank endpapers, the title page, a copyright page dated 1967, an Introduction that runs from v - xv, three pages of Contents, and 316 pages of text, and it is in very good condition, with a tight binding and clean pages and text. The slipcase is in good condition too, with faint brown spots around the edges.  

The three books have value: Modern Library first editions of this title are rare and go for $200  to $350 and up to $4500 for copies with a dust jacket, and the copy here is probably as good  a version as you’ll see. First editions of the George Allen version go for $200 and up, and we found only three versions by Allen listed on the rare book website we use - a similar version by T N Foulis from 1909 was a first UK limited edition that went for $1200 - and the Heritage Press version is in great condition and can only add value. The first English edition published in 1896 by Henry & Co. goes for $5100 to $9000 too, if you’d like to mull that over.