Thus Spake Zarathustra: A book for all and none by NIETZSCHE, FRIEDRICH - 1896

The very scare FIRST British issue of one of Philosophy's greatest works. FIRST ENGLISH EDITION (The Rare London Issue by Henry and Co.) of the very scarce Henry & Co. Printing. This first English translation of Zarathustra was done by Alexander Tille and published simultaneously by Henry and Co. in London and Macmillan in New York in 1896. It was to be the eighth book in a planned complete set of Nietzsche's work in English. This project faltered from a perfect storm of failures in both the preparation of the translations and the publishing of those works. A complete edition in English was finally resurreted and completed in the early 20th century under the editorial guidance of Oscar Levy. This Henry & Co. printing was not done in England, but rather produced in germany by Nietzsche's Leipzig publisher, C.G. Naumann, while Macmillan had the American imprint produced by the Norwood Press in Norwood, MA. Henry & Co, was unfortunately a new and woefully under financed imprint that had been selected by C.G. Naumann and Nietzsche's Cousin, Dr. Richard Oehler, over the protests of the English translators. Almost predictably, after publishing two titles (This book and The Case of Wagner) in 1896, the firm went bankrupt leaving two unpublished works (The Dawn of the Day and the Generaology of Morals) in the hands of the translators. becasue of this financial collapse and the resultamt problems of distribution within the English market, the Henry & Co. issue is exceeding scarce in the trade, reflecting the very light reported sales of just 257 copies before june 30, 1897 (Schaberg, The Nietzsche Canon, p. 87).

This copy has the ink ownership inscription of Hugh E. Seebohm 1896 (1867-1946) who wrote a book called On the structure of Greek Tribal Society in 1895. Binding slightly rubbed at the hinges and slight cracking inside the gutter due to the books large 8vo size. Nonetheless, likely the most attractive copy that anyone will ever see. Housed in a 1/4 morocco clamshell case constructed by the Heritage Bindery.