Kafka Selected Stories ML 283 1952 w/DJ

📖 Selected Stories of Franz Kafka by Franz Kafka (1952, The Modern Library) — a landmark collection of fifteen stories that defined existential literature, translated by Willa and Edwin Muir with an introduction by critic Philip Rahv. This copy is a Modern Library #283 in 1969/1970 edition dust jacket, with neat prior-reader annotations.

QUICK FACTS

• Author: Franz Kafka (1883–1924), Prague-born German-language writer
• Translators: Willa Muir (1890–1970) and Edwin Muir (1887–1959)
• Introduction: Philip Rahv (1908–1973), co-founder of Partisan Review
• Publisher: The Modern Library / Random House, Inc., New York
• Year: 1952 (Modern Library Edition); jacket is 1969/1970 printing
• Series: Modern Library #283
• Format: Hardcover in original dust jacket
• Binding: Black cloth with silver spine lettering; green pictorial endpapers with repeating ML logo
• Pages: 330+ | ISBN: None (pre-ISBN era)
• Condition: Book VG+/Near Fine / Jacket Very Good — full report below

THE STORIES

This volume gathers fifteen of Kafka’s essential works: The Judgment, The Metamorphosis, In the Penal Colony, The Great Wall of China, A Country Doctor, A Common Confusion, The New Advocate, An Old Manuscript, A Fratricide, A Report to an Academy, The Hunter Gracchus, A Hunger Artist, Investigations of a Dog, The Burrow, and Josephine the Singer, or the Mouse Folk. The collection spans Kafka’s career from The Judgment (1912) through Josephine the Singer (1924), representing virtually the full range of his short fiction.

THIS EDITION

Modern Library #283 was first issued in 1952 with a copyright stack reaching back to Heinr. Mercy Sohn in Prague (1936/1937) and Schocken Books (1946/1948), reflecting the complex publication history of Kafka’s work across pre-war Europe and post-war America. The Willa and Edwin Muir translations were the standard English-language Kafka for over fifty years – their importance to Kafka’s reception in the Anglophone world is comparable to Constance Garnett’s role with Russian literature. The introduction by Philip Rahv, co-founder of Partisan Review and a champion of Kafka among the New York intellectuals, provides critical framing that shaped mid-century American understanding of Kafka’s work.

DESIGN & CONDITION

The dust jacket features a clean mid-century Modern Library design: a cream/beige background with bold red “FRANZ KAFKA” set against a black rectangle, with gold/yellow “SELECTED STORIES OF” above. The back panel lists other ML “Classics of Literature” and includes a biographical sketch of Kafka. The original price of $2.95 appears on the front flap (price-clipped, with $2.95 penciled back). The jacket shows minimal edge wear with one small closed tear at the back upper edge near the flap fold, and light age-toning to the spine and rear panel. Beneath the jacket, the black cloth boards are clean with bright silver foil stamping and crisp corners; the spine tail is ever so lightly bumped. The green pictorial endpapers with the repeating ML logo pattern are intact. Pages are lightly age-toned but crisp, with neat pencil notes and ink marginalia on the contents page and select margins — including pencil annotations on The Metamorphosis and a blue ink annotation on A Hunger Artist. Binding is square and tight.

WHY IT MATTERS

• The Muir translations (1930s–1980s) defined how the English-speaking world first encountered Kafka’s voice; this edition preserves that original translation milestone
• Philip Rahv’s introduction positions Kafka within the mid-century American literary canon – Rahv was instrumental in establishing Kafka’s reputation among New York intellectuals
• Modern Library #283 with original dust jacket is a collectible mid-century ML edition; the 1969/1970 jacket printing dates this copy to the series’s later period under Random House

FREQUENTLY ASKED

What edition is this? Modern Library #283, first issued 1952. This copy has a 1969/1970 printing dust jacket. The Muir translations are used (not the later Mark Harman or Stanley Corngold revisions).

What condition is it in? Book VG+/Near Fine, Jacket Very Good — neat prior-reader annotations present in margins. Full condition report in the original description below.

Are The Trial and The Castle included? No — the handwritten “The Trial” and “The Castle” notes below the table of contents were added by a previous owner. Those are separate Modern Library volumes (#318 and #319).

FOR COLLECTORS

Modern Library #283 with intact dust jacket in this condition is increasingly scarce. The combination of the Muir translations, Rahv’s critical introduction, and the clean mid-century ML design makes this a desirable representative copy of Kafka’s short fiction in the edition that shaped a generation of American readers.

Book Details
Author: Franz Kafka
Illustrator: Not credited
Publisher: The Modern Library / Random House
Binding: Hardcover
Edition Points: Stated Modern Library Edition, in 1969/1970 edition dressing. Volume #283 in the series. Bound in black cloth with silver spine lettering and green pictorial endpapers.

Condition Report
Overall Grade: Book: Very Good+ (VG+)/Near Fine (NF) / Jacket: Very Good (VG)
Cover & Spine: Black cloth boards remain clean with silver foil stamping on the spine bright and complete; board corners crisp and sharp. Spine tail ever so lightly bumped.
Dust Jacket: Original jacket presents well with minimal edge wear, one small, closed tear at back upper edge near flap fold. Light age-toning to the spine and rear white paper panel. Price clipped with $2.95 penciled on flap.
Text Block & Pages: Pages are lightly age-toned and remain crisp. Occasional neat pencil notes and ink marginalia are present on the contents page and select margins.
Binding: Square and tight. No loose, torn or folded pages.

See accompanying images for full condition details. Will ship promptly, carefully packaged.

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