GOETHE, Johann Wolfgang von. Faust. Ein Fragment [from Goethe's Schriften, Volume 7]. [1 f.], 168 pp. (pp. 169-320 contain two "Singspielen"). Title-leaf printed on thick card paper, with engraved vignette. 8vo., 159 x 95 mm, bound in contemporary half German mottled sheep and marbled paper over boards, green and tan spine labels; preserved in morocco-backed folding case. Leipzig: Georg Joachim Göschen, 1790.

First Edition, the earliest printed version of Goethe's Faust, one of the greatest works of European literature. The legend of Faust, the Renaissance alchemist and charlatan, was an obsession of Goethe's throughout his life. By 1773 he had begun writing a play on the popular theme; its earliest form, known as the Urfaust, was copied ca. 1776 by Luisa von Göchhausen and rediscovered and published by Erich Schmidt in 1887. After his Italian journey of 1786-88 Goethe returned to the work, rewriting, adding scenes, and changing some prose passages to verse. That is the version published here, in volume 7 of the first collected edition of his works. A more complete version of Part I was to appear in 1808, and Part II was published only in the last decade of Goethe's life, in 1825.

The earliest, uncorrected sheets of the 1790 edition were first issued by Göschen in volume 7 of the authorized complete edition of his works, Goethe's Schriften. But, like other publishers of the time, Göschen issued Sonderdrucke or Doppeldrucke to protect himself from the drain which pirate editions made on his profits. A separate printing of 1000 copies, with a letterpress title bearing the identification "ächte Ausgabe," was issued simultaneously. In that issue, which is extremely rare, only quire "D" includes the volume note "Goethe's W. 7 B." ("Goethe's Werke siebenter Band") in the signature line of the first page of the quire.

The present copy includes this note in every quire. Our copy has the earliest state of the 3 last lines of p. 144 repeated on p. 145, an error that was corrected at press, resulting in two different states, both of which appear in the Schriften issue (while only the earlier state appears in the Sonderdruck). An excellent copy with only the faintest dampstain to title, some foxing and discoloration as usual, spine and extremities scuffed.

PROVENANCE: L.C., inkstamped initials on title.

Hagen 204; Goedeke IV, 3, 611. See: PMM 298 and "Early Editions of Goethe, Schiller, and Wagner" by D.M. Sutherland in the Bodleian Library Record, IX, #1, February 1973 for a detailed discussion of the various issue points.