SALTEN, Felix.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Bambi. First edition in book form, first printing, inscribed by the author in the year of publication on the title page, "Frau Henny Kienzl in Freundschaft, Weihnachten 23 Felix Salten". We can trace only one inscribed copy of the first edition sold at auction since 1975. The story first appeared serially in Die Neue Freie Presse in 1922, and was not intended for children.Helene Kienzl (1876-1964) was a writer and the librettist of her husband's last three operas. The Austrian composer Wilhelm Kienzl (1857-1941) is chiefly remembered for his operas and other vocal music, including Der Evangelimann (first performed in 1895). He married Helene ("Henny") Bauer in 1921.Whether Salten inscribed many copies is unknown. The book is rare as, after the book was banned in Nazi Germany in 1935 as a "political allegory on the treatment of Jews in Europe", many copies were burned. "Salten was trying to warn the world that Jews would be terrorised, dehumanised and murdered in the years to come. Far from being a children's story, Bambi was actually a parable about the inhumane treatment and dangerous precariousness of Jews and other minorities in what was then an increasingly fascist world" (Ferguson).An English translation was published in 1928 with a foreword by John Galsworthy, in which he stated that the book was "clear and illuminating, and in places very moving, it is a little masterpiece... I particularly recommend it to sportsmen". The Disney film was released in 1942.

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