The Prophet
London: William Heinemann, 1926.
First British edition, first printing of Kahlil Gibran's most enduring work. [viii], 118 pp. with 12 plates including frontis. Bound in publisher's purple cloth lettered in gilt. Very Good with moderate wear and heavy toning and soiling including splashes of white paint to covers, fraying to spine ends; binding shaken; title page and following leaf partly detached at bottom threads. Heavy foxing to text block edges and first and last few pages, scattered foxing throughout, slight musty odor. Gift inscription dated 1926 to front free endpaper. A serviceable copy of the scarce first British edition. The Prophet was first published in 1923 in the United States, where it was greeted tepidly by critics but warmly by the public. The illustrations are by Gibran himself, who made his masterpiece a gesamtkunstwerk in the style of William Blake.
Price: $3,800