Klingsor’s Last Summer. By Hermann Hesse. Translated by Richard and Clara Winston. First American Edition, First Printing. Farrar, Straus, Giroux. New York, 1970.

German author Hermann Hesse made lasting international contributions to literature. He is known for his narrative interests in spirituality, Eastern religions, and self-realization. His work captures some of the twentieth century’s preoccupations with Freudian and Jungian psychologies as well as religious cross-pollinations, especially those stemming from Buddhism and growing into European cultural thought. His most well known works are Siddhartha, Steppenwolf, and Demian. In 1946 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature. In this slim novella, Klingsor’s Last Summer, a mature and practiced Hesse crafts a brilliant character study of his protagonist Klingsor, a dying painter who struggles with hedonist impulses despite desiring something more meaningful, a spiritual and creative clarity.

This first American edition, first printing is in about-fine condition. In the original full cloth boards, about-fine with only fading to edges. Text block about-fine with only creases, soiling, and wormholes to a few pages. In the original dust jacket, near-fine with only minor creases and soiling.

A near-fine first American edition of Klingsor’s Last Summer.