Der Antichrist (The Antichrist [1st ed], along with Der Fall Wagner [3rd ed], Götzen-Dämmerung [3rd ed], Nietzsche Contra Wagner [1st ed], and Gedichte [1st ed]) Bound with WRAPPERS

NIETZSCHE, Friedrich

Published by C. G. Naumann, 1895

NIETZSCHE, Friedrich. Nietzsche s Werke Band VIII: Der Antichrist (The Antichrist [1st ed], along with Der Fall Wagner [3rd ed], Götzen-Dämmerung [3rd ed], Nietzsche Contra Wagner [1st ed], and Gedichte [1st ed]). Leipzig: C. G. Naumann, 1895. Decorative FFEP + 1 blank leaf + front wrapper + TP + 1 leaf = facsimile manuscript page [V] VI + TP + Half-title page + [1] 378 + [I] - XI + rear wrapper + 1 blank leaf + decorative RFEP, Octavo. First edition. Schaberg 60.The first publication of Der Antichrist appeared in the eighth volume of the Collected Works, issued in 1895 in an edition of 1,000 copies. SCARCE with original WRAPPERS.Nietzsche's savage attack on Christianity which was not published until 1895 for fear of government prosecution for "obscenity" based on the vitriolic, sarcastic and outright extreme hyperbole of the book's hostility towards Christianity: "I call Christianity the one great curse, the one great intrinsic depravity, the one great instinct of revenge, for which no expedient is sufficiently poisonous, stealthy, subterranean, petty enough - I call it the one immortal blemish of mankind." (Section 62). In the mind of many readers, the astonishing savagery, which some might prefer to see as directness, of Nietzsche s style in the present work is the mark of his insanity. However, the basic contents of The Antichrist regularly harken back to any number of less furiously formulated critiques of Christianity in the earlier works. For Nietzsche, the thinker, it is faith itself that is the fundamental abomination: "God is a gross answer, an indelicacy against us thinkers at bottom merely a gross prohibition for us: you shall not think!" But the particular historical and personal damages wrought by Christianity inspire his true wrath. "In Christianity the instincts of the defeated and the oppressed rise to the surface: it is the lower classes who find their satisfaction in this religion. Christian is another word for hatred of the intellect, hatred of pride, hatred of courage, hatred of freedom of the intellect. Christian is another word for hatred of the senses, hatred of the joys of the senses, hatred of joy itself." "There was only one Christian, and he died on the cross."CONDITION: Very good to near fine full leather binding, five raised bands on spine with title and author set in gilt. Some very minor edge wear and scuffing. Elaborately decorative endpapers with former owner's bookplate to verso of decoratrive FFEP. Top edge gilt. Pages with wide margins. Pages clean and free of markings. Bound with original front and rear wrappers. Seller Inventory # 895

Bibliographic Details

Title: Der Antichrist (The Antichrist [1st ed], ...
Publisher: C. G. Naumann
Publication Date: 1895
Binding: Hardcover
Condition: Very Good
Edition: 1st Edition