HITLER, Adolf. Mein Kampf..
Munich: Franz Eher Nachfolger, 1931. 2 vols in one, octavo, pp. xxv, 782, [10] ads. Original blue cloth, spine lettered and ruled in gold, gold design blocked to upper board, top edge dyed blue. Hinges cracked, front joint starting at spine foot, minor soiling to last few leaves. Author's inscription in black ink to front free endpaper. A very good copy. Presentation copy inscribed by Hitler to his adjutant: 'Herrn Wilhelm Brüchner in herzlicher Kampffreundschaft [i.e. 'my friend in the struggle' signed] Adolf Hitler München den 16/März 1931'. Lieutenant Brüchner was a long-standing member of Hitler's Bavarian entourage, from the period preceding the beer-hall putsch when as leader of the Munich SA he urged Hitler to action after the Nazis had been stirred to fever pitch: 'the day is coming when I can no longer hold my people. If nothing happens now the men will sneak away' and, presumably, become left radicals. Brüchner followed Hitler to the Reich Chancellery, where he continued to exert influence, and controlled access to Hitler. Commenting on Hitler's 'day to day' Ian Kershaw remarked that this entourage, 'Brückner, Schaub, Schreck … and his court photographer Heinrich Hoffman were omnipresent, often hindering contact, frequently interfering in a conversation with some form of distraction, invariably listening, later backing Hitler's own impressions and prejudices'.Hitler completed the first volume of Mein Kampf in the Fortress of Landsberg where he was incarcerated after the Putsch of November 1923. 'His detention…gave him the opportunity to dictate to his associate Rudolph Hess the first volume of the testament and programme of a political gangster which he called Mein Kampf - 'My Struggle'. Although it contained much that was shocking to many Germans, its main sentiments were widely shared in central Europe. A pseudo-mystic racial theory, totally unrelated to fact, was made to support pan-Germanism, anti-semitism, militarisim, and ultra-nationalism, the combination of which was to be implemented by the unrestricted use of power as interpreted through the mentality of a superstitious bully.' (PMM). Hitler's programme and what it entailed on the international stage is stated with such frankness in Mein Kampf that many could not believe he would go through with it. This copy is from the seventh edition, but presentation copies of any edition are distinctly uncommon. Kershaw Hitler 1889-1936; cf. Printing and the Mind of Man 415. Bookseller Inventory # 84862
Price: £ 14000.00 (approx. US$ 21876.40)
Presented by Simon Finch Rare Books, London, ., United Kingdom
Regards
Matt Gibbs
