My Battle (Mein Kampf)

Boston, MA: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1933. Presumed First U.S. Edition thus. Hardcover. Good. viii, 297, [1] pages. Chronology, pencil notations in text, stains in top margin front flyleaf through p. 211. Rough spot inside rear board, ink name & address inside front flyleaf, some weakness to front board, boards somewhat soiled and worn, pencil marks on front board, small tear to bottom edge of spine. First American Edition of Mein Kampf in English, but may be a later printing. Blanche Dugdale urged her husband, E. T. S. Dugdale, to write an abridgment of Mein Kampf. Dugdale began his work on this abridgment in about 1931, but he,initially, was unable to find a publisher for it. In early 1933, at the time of the Nazi seizure of power in Germany, Dugdale apparently got in touch with Eher Verlag, who put him into contact with the firm of Hurst and Blackett. The latter firm was in the process of buying the translation rights from Curtis Brown for a sum of �350. Dugdale offered the abridgment to Hurst & Blackett free of charge, with the stipulation that his name not be used for the British edition. Before the book could go to press, however, Hurst and Blackett were visited by Dr. Hans Wilhelm Thost, an active member of the "Nazi organization" in London. Thost insisted on taking a copy to Berlin for further censoring and official sanction. The abridgment was finally published in October 1933. In the United States, Houghton Mifflin secured the rights to the Dugdale abridgment on July 29, 1933. The only differences between the American and British versions are that the title was translated My Struggle in the UK and My Battle in America; and that Dugdale is credited as translator in the US edition. Mein Kampf (German: [My Struggle or My Battle) is a 1925 autobiographical manifesto by Nazi Party leader Adolf Hitler. The work describes the process by which Hitler became anti-Semitic and outlines his political ideology and future plans for Germany. Volume 1 of Mein Kampf was published in 1925 and Volume 2 in 1926. The book was edited first by Emil Maurice, then by Hitler's deputy Rudolf Hess. Hitler began Mein Kampf while imprisoned for what he considered to be "political crimes" following his failed Putsch in Munich in November 1923. Although he received many visitors initially, he soon devoted himself entirely to the book. As he continued, he realized that it would have to be a two-volume work, with the first volume scheduled for release in early 1925. The governor of Landsberg noted at the time that "he [Hitler] hopes the book will run into many editions, thus enabling him to fulfill his financial obligations and to defray the expenses incurred at the time of his trial." After slow initial sales, the book became a bestseller in Germany following Hitler's rise to power in 1933. After Hitler's death, copyright of Mein Kampf passed to the state government of Bavaria, which refused to allow any copying or printing of the book in Germany. In 2016, following the expiration of the copyright held by the Bavarian state government, Mein Kampf was republished in Germany for the first time since 1945, which prompted public debate and divided reactions from Jewish groups.