EINE KLEINIGKEIT.

8vo, pp. [ii], 34; woodcut vignette on title-page; foxing and browning throughout, especially to first and last few leaves; in contemporary patterned wrappers; small hole to upper cover.

Attractively bound in coloured, patterned wrappers, this rare work satirises the habits of Viennese high society in the second half of the eighteenth century. The anonymous author sketches the characters and activities of various wealthy Viennese (presumably not wholly imaginary), as they sit in their coffee houses, go to the theatre, beautify themselves, while musing on the uneasy relationship between wealth and happiness (while acknowledging that he has neither).

The contemporary review in the Weiner Wochenschrift was not enthusiastic: noting the rather bitter tone of the work, it observes that 'the characters presented are seldom drawn naturally or faithfully from people's daily and social lives, and Rabener's genius does not inspire the author in his work - there is also no lack of rambling, un-German passages containing little sense or understanding... The author would like to say something, but does not know how to express or present his ideas clearly' (1781, number XXVI, p. 201). Perhaps it may have more value two centuries on as a document of how Viennese society seemed to those who did not feel fully part of it.

Not in OCLC or KvK; one copy located at the City Hall Library in Vienna.