Emigrants by Sebald, Signed (3 results)

Soft cover. Condition: Very Good. UK paperback first impression in this edition. SIGNED by Sebald with name only to first page. Rare thus. VG+ overall condition. Signed by Author.

Hardcover. Condition: Fine. Dust Jacket Condition: Fine. First American edition. Translated by Michael Hulse. Fine in fine dust jacket. Signed by the author on the half-title in German using his nickname: "Mit guten wünschen, Max." The first of the author's works to appear in English, published in a small edition. The author died in a car crash just as he was attaining recognition. While Sebald did sign some copies of his books in English, they seem invariably to be signed in full as W.G. Sebald. Despite the recipient of this copy being unidentified, the use of "Max" does imply familiarity. In any event, an exceptionally scarce title to find signed.

New York: New Directions Books. 1996. 8vo. Original blue cloth bound boards with silver lettering; original illustrated dust wrapper; pp. [12], 8-237, [9]; minimal scuffing to spine ends; otherwise fine copy; authorial inscription to title page. Extremely rare signed copy of the second printing, inscribed by the author on the title page. The Emigrants is a powerful series of narratives which explore the consequence of trauma and displacement as experienced by four Jewish emigres in the 20th century. Like the majority of Sebald's work, the use of stark black and white photographs throughout, which give the impression that one is reminiscing over a past life, are both complementary to the narrative and yet also disturbing interruptions to confessional recollection, marking many of the ways Sebald challeges conventional plot structure. "The Emigrants is about the power of memory", as writes the Amsterdam newspaper Volkskrant, "the way in whch German history has wrought havoc with the human capacity to remember has never before been remember has never before been recorded with such force". In his final interview in September 2001 that was later printed in The Guardian, Sebald is quoted saying: "Memory, even if you repress it, will come back at you and it will shape your life. Without memories there wouldn't be any writing: the specific weight an image or phrase needs to get across to the reader can only come from things rememberedâ"not from yesterday but from a long time ago". This edition of a novel described by Susan Sontag as being "perfect whilst being unlike any book one has ever read", is very scarcely found with a signature.