THEA VON HARBOU (Prussian/German, 1888-1954). ...

Description

THEA VON HARBOU (Prussian/German, 1888-1954)

Metropolis. Berlin: August Scherl, 1926. First edition. In German. Octavo. 274 pages. Five pages of ads. Original green cloth over boards, titles to spine gilt on red, ruling and titles to upper board gilt, yellow top-stain. Original pictorial dust jacket featuring a bright image of Walter Reimann's illustration. Moderate cocking to spine. Corners a bit bumped. Rear hinge cracked. Mild foxing to the endpapers. Very light discoloration and chipping to the dust jacket, with light soiling to the rear panel and some creasing and fingernail abrasions to the jacket spine. A very good copy of this influential book.

When Thea von Harbou became Fritz Lang's second wife in 1922, she'd already established herself as an important author and screenwriter. The idea for Metropolis emerged from a novella she'd written a few years previously. The finished novel of Metropolis was written while she (with assistance from Lang) worked on the screenplay. The book can be seen as a sort of movie tie-in in that German media mongrel Alfred Hugenberg owned controlling interest in both the publishing firm of August Scherl, as well as UFA, the film company which produced Metropolis. Barron, 3-23. Bleiler, Science Fiction the Early Years, 1040. Minden and Bachmann, Fritz Lang's Metropolis, page 10.

From the Jerry Weist Collection.

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