The Prophet.

GIBRAN, Kahlil.

Item Number: 103840

New York: Alfred A. Knopf, 1923.

First edition of the author’s masterpiece. Octavo, original cloth, with illustrations by the author. In near fine condition with light toning. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box. An exceptional example, most scarce and desirable in this condition.

The Prophet is a collection of poetic essays that are philosophical, spiritual, and, above all, inspirational. Gibran’s musings are divided into twenty-eight chapters covering such sprawling topics as love, marriage, children, giving, eating and drinking, work, joy and sorrow, housing, clothes, buying and selling, crime and punishment, laws, freedom, reason and passion, pain, self-knowledge, teaching, friendship, talking, time, good and evil, prayer, pleasure, beauty, religion, and death. It has been translated into well over 40 languages. By 2012, it had sold more than nine million copies in its American edition alone since its original publication in 1923.