Der Untergang des Abendlandes: Umrisse einer Morphologie der Weltgeschichte (The Decline of the West)
Vienna and Leipzig; Munich: Wilhelm Braumueller; C.H. Beck, 1918,1922.
Both volumes of Otto Sprengler's philosophical treatise The Decline of the West, published four years apart, with ALS tipped into first volume. First edition of first volume, 31st to 42nd printing (in year of publication) of second volume. xvi, 639, [1]; vii, [1], 635, [1], 12 pp. with twelve advertising pages at rear. First volume bound in marbled-printed paper-covered boards over half cloth, lettered in gilt on spine, all edges speckled. Second volume bound in publisher's printed paper-covered boards over cream spine cloth lettered in black, black topstain and endpapers. Near Fine with light wear and sunning to Volume 1 covers, scattered foxing to Volume 2 covers, and occasional pencil markings to both volumes. Volume 2 contents heavily toned, typical for postwar economy paper. Typed transcript of Sprengler's letter and 1980 newspaper article laid in.
The German nationalist Oswald Spengler predicted that Western civilization would return to a period of dictatorship before its final collapse. In the preserved letter, Spengler gifts the first volume to an unnamed academic and politely begs for some critical attention. He got critical attention: Spengler's treatise was a controversial and hugely influential bestseller, its gloomy central argument matching the European interwar mood. The Nazis took many of his ideas to heart, but branded him an enemy of the state after he proved too critical of their policies. A foundational text of twentieth century conservative philosophy. PMM 410.
Price: $10,500