Joy in Work. Translated from the German by Eden & Cedar Paul by de Man, Henri - 1929

New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1929. 224p., hardbound US first edition in 8.6x5.7 inch ribbed red cloth boards panelled blind, ruled and spine-titled gilt, in dust jacket. Astonishingly good condition; top and tail rims fractionally crimped, dj price-clipped, these the only deviations from "as new" for both book and its dj. Very crisp and bright. FYI, Holt provides no publishing information - which informs us it is indeed the first! - UK first issue was listed as 1929, the German original came out in '27, and Holt (according Zempel and Verkler) says their practice in this period was "when sheets are imported from Europe, no special notation is made." We declare it an American first. From front panel of dust jacket: "In connection with his work at the Frankfort Labour College, de Man collected reports from seventy-eight persons, industrial workers and salaried employees, on the conditions that promoted their pleasure or intensified their distaste for their various occupations. These reports form the groundwork for arguments and inferences about the interesting problem - mooted sixty years ago by Samuel Butler in Erewhon - of 'Man versus Machine.' On the basis of that 'ethical' socialism with which the readers of his books are familiar, de Man comes to fairly sanguine conclusions..