About this Item
First impression of the true first edition, published in the USA (precedes the UK edition). Black and white photographic portrait of the author on the back of the dustwrapper by Jerry Bauer. ***Near fine in blue cloth-covered boards, with gilt titles to spine and facsimile gilt signature of Jakov Lind to front board. Flecked plain front and rear free endpapers and pastedowns. Fore-edge of text-block untrimmed (rough-cut, as common in US editions). Top edge of text-block stained burgundy (as called for). Small splash stain on top edge, not affecting the interior. Owner's name in ink on pastedown under front jacket flap. Pages clean. Spine tight. ***In a near fine colour illustrated price-clipped dustwrapper. Edges of dustwrapper very slightly rubbed. Head and tail of spine of dustwrapper slightly creased and rubbed. No fading. No tears. Dustwrapper bright. ***223 pages. 218mm x 148mm. ***'Jakov Lind's formidable talents are again evident in this autobiography. The New York Times called him "the most notable short-story writer to appear in the last two decades," on the appearance of his 'Soul of Wood, and Other Stories'. With Gunther Grass and Rolf Hochhuth, he is now ranked as a major contemporary European writer. His skills as a playwright have also contributed to the dramatic intensity of Counting My Steps. ***The book is the reconstruction of Lind's years before he was twenty-three, a young Austrian Jew hiding from the Nazis ---There are three major "steps" in the story. The first, "School for Metaphysics," takes him through his school days in Vienna, discussing with his fellows "God, the world, and the ultimate destiny of men." The next, "School for Politics," recalls his years as Jan Overbeek in Holland, where he went alone as a refugee when he was eleven In between working in the fields and outwitting the Nazis, he began to discover the pleasures of sex, and other verities of existence. Fleeing Holland, he sailed as a bargeman to Germany. ---Indirectly, he finds an unlikely post inside the Air Ministry. ***In the final section of the memoir, "School for alchemy"' he escapes once more, this time as Jakov Chaklan, illegally aboard a ship to Palestine, and begins his career as a writer (Quote from inside front and rear of dustwrapper blurb). ***Jakov Lind (born Heinz Jakov Landwirth, 10 Feb 1927 in Vienna ? died 16 Feb 2007 in London) was an Austrian-British writer of short stories and novels. In 1954, he settled in London, where he wrote, in German, the short stories and novels on which his stature as a major European writer is based: Soul of Wood, Landscape in Concrete, and Ergo. Lind began writing in English, and the autobiography Counting My Steps was the first book written in his new language. ***First impression of the true first US edition, complete in its original dustwrapper, in very nice collectable condition. Of interest to collectors of Jakov Lind and post-war European literature. ***For all our books, postage is charged at cost, allowing for packaging: any shipping rates indicated on ABE are an average only: we will reduce the P & P charge where appropriate - please contact us for postal rates for heavier books and sets etc. Seller Inventory # 6263
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Bibliographic Details
Title: COUNTING MY STEPS: AN AUTOBIOGRAPHY
Publisher: Macmillan, New York
Publication Date: 1969
Binding: Hardcover
Illustrator: Alex Gotfried [Jacket design]
Condition: Near Fine
Dust Jacket Condition: Near Fine
Edition: First US Edition
