Error in dust jacket?

Paul wrote:
> I have a 1968 copyright version of Hermann Hesse's "Narcissus and
> Goldmund" printed by Farrar, Strous & Giroux, English translation by
> Ursule Molinaro. On the back flap of the dust jacket, at the bottom, it
> says, "Printed in the U.S.A. 1933." What should I make of that? Would
> it affect the value?

Was there a 1933 U.S.A.-printed edition of the book? Could the dust
jacket be a reproduction to enhance salability? I am reminded of a
stamp dealer who informed a collector of movie memorabilia that his
prized movie poster was a reproduction. The movie buff dismissed that
as a mere surmisal. Then the stamp dealer pointed to the zip code
(postal code) of the printer, in the margin. Zip codes were not
introduced until 1963.

David Ames
 >> Stay informed about: Error in dust jacket? 

No, David. This is a "First American Edition" from this publisher.
Hesse wrote the book (in German) in 1930 but there wasn't an English
translation until the early 1960s, I believe. Had the jacket said
"Copyright 1933" I would have assumed the text on the jacket flaps was
written in 1933, but it says "Printed ..." so I'm assuming it's a
mistake. I bought the book (along with 5 other "first American edition"
Hesse titles from the same publisher) back in 1980 but never noticed
the date until yesterday. As I'm getting ready to sell them, I was
taking a closer look and when I saw that date I just thought it was
rather odd.
 >> Stay informed about: Error in dust jacket? 

Kris, thanks. I've emailed them, as well as FS&G. Not that I've looked
that thoroughly, but I haven't come across any English translations of
his books prior to the 1950s. As far as I knew, Hesse wasn't
"discovered" by American readers until then. Interesting ...

Still, that the dj says "Printed ... 1933" isn't quite the same as
copyrighted in 1933. I'm looking forward to learning what is behind
this.
 >> Stay informed about: Error in dust jacket? 

Jon, It's possible it's a code. There is no price on the front flap and
no stamp on the back. The 1933 is printed on its own line, centered
under "PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.". In the "for what it's worth" department,
the copyright page is rather sparse. It shows the 1968 copyright for
FS&G, the translation credit, a "1930, 1957" copyright for Hesse and,
finally, "Printed in the United States of America". There's no ISBN, no
Library of Congress info, no print history. (I don't remeber when the
ISBN and Lib. of Congress verbiage became standard copyright page
material so maybe they wouldn't be on a 1968 edition.)
 >> Stay informed about: Error in dust jacket? 

Jon Meyers wrote:
> Kris Baker wrote:
>
>> "Paul" wrote...
>>
>>> No, David. This is a "First American Edition" from this publisher.
>>> Hesse wrote the book (in German) in 1930 but there wasn't an English
>>> translation until the early 1960s, I believe. Had the jacket said
>>> "Copyright 1933" I would have assumed the text on the jacket flaps was
>>> written in 1933, but it says "Printed ..." so I'm assuming it's a
>>> mistake. I bought the book (along with 5 other "first American edition"
>>> Hesse titles from the same publisher) back in 1980 but never noticed
>>> the date until yesterday. As I'm getting ready to sell them, I was
>>> taking a closer look and when I saw that date I just thought it was
>>> rather odd.
>>
>>
>
> My guess about the number on the OP's book jacket is that it has nothing
> to do with the date of publication. It's probably a code of some kind
> that just happens to look like a year--perhaps an internal ID number.


Or, it now occurs to me, it could be that the book is a book-club
edition. The "Printed in the U.S.A." slug is sometimes a BCE marker,
and the number could be the BOMC code.

To the OP: Does the dustjacket show a price on the front flap, and/or a
blind stamp in the bottom right corner of the back board?
 >> Stay informed about: Error in dust jacket? 

"Paul" <paul.pomeroy RemoveThis @adaptiveview.com> wrote in message
news:1130440559.858195.235930@g43g2000cwa.googlegroups.com...
> No, David. This is a "First American Edition" from this publisher.
> Hesse wrote the book (in German) in 1930 but there wasn't an English
> translation until the early 1960s, I believe. Had the jacket said
> "Copyright 1933" I would have assumed the text on the jacket flaps was
> written in 1933, but it says "Printed ..." so I'm assuming it's a
> mistake. I bought the book (along with 5 other "first American edition"
> Hesse titles from the same publisher) back in 1980 but never noticed
> the date until yesterday. As I'm getting ready to sell them, I was
> taking a closer look and when I saw that date I just thought it was
> rather odd.

Ask the first seller here http://snipurl.com/j62i what he means by
"first American issue of the novel in 36 years" (for his 1968 Strauss).

In fact, more than one bookseller makes that claim....so either
they know something about an early 1930s American edition/
translation, or they're cribbing from each other.
Kris
 >> Stay informed about: Error in dust jacket? 

Kris Baker wrote:
> "Paul" wrote...
>
>> No, David. This is a "First American Edition" from this publisher.
>> Hesse wrote the book (in German) in 1930 but there wasn't an English
>> translation until the early 1960s, I believe. Had the jacket said
>> "Copyright 1933" I would have assumed the text on the jacket flaps was
>> written in 1933, but it says "Printed ..." so I'm assuming it's a
>> mistake. I bought the book (along with 5 other "first American edition"
>> Hesse titles from the same publisher) back in 1980 but never noticed
>> the date until yesterday. As I'm getting ready to sell them, I was
>> taking a closer look and when I saw that date I just thought it was
>> rather odd.
>
>
> Ask the first seller here http://snipurl.com/j62i what he means by
> "first American issue of the novel in 36 years" (for his 1968 Strauss).
>
> In fact, more than one bookseller makes that claim....so either
> they know something about an early 1930s American edition/
> translation, or they're cribbing from each other.
> Kris


It was published in 1932 under a different title. A listing from
RedLightGreen:

Author: Hesse, Hermann, 1877-1962.
Title: Death and the lover; translated by Geoffrey Dunlop.
Publisher: New York, Dodd, Mead & company [1932]
Edition Date: 1932
Language: English




My guess about the number on the OP's book jacket is that it has nothing
to do with the date of publication. It's probably a code of some kind
that just happens to look like a year--perhaps an internal ID number.


--Jon Meyers
 >> Stay informed about: Error in dust jacket? 

Paul wrote:
> Jon, It's possible it's a code. There is no price on the front flap and
> no stamp on the back. The 1933 is printed on its own line, centered
> under "PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.". In the "for what it's worth" department,
> the copyright page is rather sparse. It shows the 1968 copyright for
> FS&G, the translation credit, a "1930, 1957" copyright for Hesse and,
> finally, "Printed in the United States of America". There's no ISBN, no
> Library of Congress info, no print history. (I don't remeber when the
> ISBN and Lib. of Congress verbiage became standard copyright page
> material so maybe they wouldn't be on a 1968 edition.)


No price on the front flap means you have a book-club edition, so I'm
fairly cetain that that 1933 is a club code.

--Jon Meyers
 >> Stay informed about: Error in dust jacket? 

Paul wrote:

>I haven't come across any English translations of his
>books prior to the 1950s. As far as I knew, Hesse wasn't
>"discovered" by American readers until then.

That would be surprising, since Hesse was awarded the Nobel Prize for
Literature in 1946, and the whole world would certainly have known of
him then.

A check on COPAC (http://copac.ac.uk/wzgw) shows:

- Hesse, Hermann, In sight of chaos / translated by Stephen Hudson.
Zurich, 1923
- Hesse, Hermann, Steppenwolf / translated by B. Creighton.
London, M. Secker [1929]
- Hesse, Hermann, Death and the lover / translated by Geoffrey Dunlop.
London, 1932
- Hesse, Hermann, Magister Ludi / Hermann Hesse ; the Nobel Prize novel
"Das Glasperlenspiel", translated by Mervyn Savill.
Aldus Publications, c1949

Some of these were also available in the US; someone has already
pointed out that Death and the Lover was published in New York in the
same year (1932).

Still, it can be quite difficult to sort out which of the "second wave"
of translations of Hesse (in the 1950s) had been translated earlier by
another translator, or were reprints of an earlier translation, or were
the first translated edition. I had the same difficulty with his works
in Japanese (see
http://rarebooksinjapan.com/Japaneseeditions/page10.html and scroll
down to the second entry).

What you really need is to get hold of a copy of Marjorie Gouwens,
Hermann Hesse in America and England. A bibliography and commentary.
Dissertation--Indiana University, 1975. Photocopy, Ann Arbor, 1978.
That should keep you straight.

John
http://rarebooksinjapan.org
 >> Stay informed about: Error in dust jacket? 

Jon and John, thanks for the information. So it's a BOMC edition... On
the plus side, the other 5 books I have are not and they are all in far
better condition. I think I should probably get them appraised by a
professional before trying to sell them, though. It's painfully obvious
that I have no experience in this area. Again, thanks; it's much
appreciated.
 >> Stay informed about: Error in dust jacket?