Les Fondements du Judo [Inscribed]

Paris: Bernard Grasset, 1954. First edition. 8vo, 205 pp, printed wraps. In the photographically illustrated dust jacket. Association copy, generously inscribed in the year following publication to the occultist and fellow Rosicrucian Jean Haab: "A jean Haab / Qui avant mème d'être ceinture noire avait dejá se bien servi le judo. En toute amitié, Paris,, 20 Septembre 55."

A striking association linking Klein's work with the occult. At the age of 24, Klein left France and studied Judo in Japan, achieving a 4th dan blackbelt - an unusual accomplishment for a European of that era. Upon his return to France Klein opened the Judo Académie in Paris, and then published this extensive survey of Judo, illustrated with hundreds of black and white photographs, many of them featuring Klein himself. While the influence of Judo on Klein's work has received increasing attention in recent years, the influence of the occult on Klein is still largely unexplored. Along with his friend Claude Pascal, whom he met studying Judo in Nice in the 1940's, Klein joined a Rosicrucian order. Perhaps it was during this time that he met Haab, who is best known today for his 1979 book L'Alphabet des dieux. That work is still to this date is still not translated into English, but in the French edition is influential among certain writers and artists, including Genesis P-Orridge, who mentions Haab's work in Thee Psychick Bible. A fantastic and early association, the only inscribed example of this book we've seen, and a very early connection between the occult and Klein's work. Small heart shaped die-cut hole punched through the back cover and dust jacket, and wear to the jacket including some light chipping to rear panel, some moderate overall soiling, else a sturdy very good example.