EIN LEBEN AUF EIGENE FAUST [Inscribed by Max Schmeling ]

Undated but published in 1950. 8vo circa 20 x 15 cm, pp. 208 + 16 b&w plates, text entirely in German, hardback in dustwrapper . Book - VG., contents clean, inscription (in German) on the half-title which translates as "To Peter Thorak with heartfelt greetings from your old childhood friend. Max Schmeling. Hamburg January 1950" , minor tanning of front and back flyleaves, no foxing, binding firm ; original red, cloth spine with gilt title and yellow, paper covered boards with title in red to front board, corners a bit bent and bottom back corner bumped and slightly split, back slightly dusty towards the top but clean overall, spine complete and clean with gilt title a little dulled but complete, front clean. Dustwrapper - G, some wear and rubbing at corners, back (showing an informal photograph of Max Schmeling with his wife) is clean but has some creasing and nicks along the top and one closed tear (c. 2 cm) also at the top edge, the spine shows rubbing and minor loss at the ends and has a couple of minor marks but is clean overall, not faded and with a clear title, the front (showing a photo of Max Schmeling training with a punch-ball) is clean but has an small triangular area of loss at the top left corner from which extends a curved closed tear (c. 4 cm) and some creasing and the top and bottom edges show some minor creasing and chipping, the dustwrapper is now in a clear, removable wrapper. Peter Thorak (c. 1931 - 2006) was the son of Josef Thorak (1889 - 1952) , an Austrian-German artist. His connection with Max Schmeling is that Schmeling's wife, the Czech film star Anny Ondra, was the model for a bronze figure entitled 'The Beauty after Bath" sculpted by Josef Thorak (In the 1930s, Josef Thorak achieved fame by becoming, with Arno Breker and others, a favoured sculptor of the Third Reich . Indeed, Breker, in an interview in 1979, maintained that Thorak, not he, was Hitler's favourite).Peter Thorak's mother, who had married Josef quite early in his career, was Jewish and sometime in the late 1930s, after separation from Josef , was allowed by the German authorities to leave for England, where she lived until her death. Little is recorded of Peter Thorak other than that he lived in Italy for a number of years and was involved in boat design.…