Joseph in Egypt.

MANN, Thomas.

$1,850.00

Item Number: 96001

New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1938.

First American edition of the third installment of Mann’s four-part novel retelling the vast saga of Genesis, which Mann considered his greatest work. Octavo, 2 volumes, pictorial endpapers. Presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the half-title page, “Herr Pforzheimer, herrlich dankbar fur schonste, reichste Gastfreundschaft” which translates as “thankful for a beautiful summer day in his wonderful estate.” The recipient, Carl H. Pforzheimer was a founder of the American Stock Exchange and amassed a large fortune on Wall Street as a specialist in Standard Oil stock. He was an avid collector of rare books and manuscripts and built the Carl H. Pforzheimer Collection of Shelley and His Circle, which contained nearly 25,000 items and is now housed in the New York Public Library. In near fine condition. In the rare original glassine and original pictorial slipcase. Rare and desirable.

Mann wrote the four-part novel Joseph and His Brothers over the course of 16 years. Set in the 14th century B.C.E., the tetralogy presents the story of Genesis in standard Egyptian chronology from the ascension of Akehnaten to the death and funeral of Jacob. A dominant topic of the novel is Mann's exploration of mythical truths in the midst of the emergence of monotheism as well as the central notion of the underworld and man's descent into it. "Against an extraordinarily vivid background of the pace of life in all its detail is told the inside story of Joseph and Potiphar's wife, up to its climax, when -- defeated in her determination to win his love, she turns against him and Potiphar, unwillingly, is forced to give him to Pharaoh as slave and prisoner. So much for the pattern of the tale. But the philosophy and understanding and interpretation is Mann's -- and for that it is a book not to passed over. One of the great masters of prose today, Mann gives us some of his best in this stupendous work" (Kirkus Reviews).