REMARQUE, Erich Maria.

£3,500 · Offered by Peter Harrington · No longer available

Spark of Life. First edition in English, first printing, inscribed to his literary agent on the front free endpaper, "Für Felix Guggenheim. In herzlicher Freundschaft mit allen guten Wünschen. Porto Ronco, 1954. Erich Maria Remarque" ("For Felix Guggenheim. In heartfelt friendship with all good wishes").Guggenheim (1904-1976) was an influential publisher in Germany, who emigrated to the US in 1940. He founded the Pazifische Press in Los Angeles, which published exiled German writers, including Thomas Mann, Franz Werfel, and Alfred Döblin. After the war he acted as a literary agent, re-establishing ties between American and German publishers and writers. He particularly advised on copyright questions, and assisted European authors regarding American movie rights. He worked as Remarque's agent from December 1950 onwards. An extensive collection of correspondence between Remarque and Guggenheim is preserved in the latter's papers in the University of Southern California.The novel tells the story of a group of inmates of a German concentration camp as the Second World War draws to a close. It was based on the execution of Remarque's sister (to whom it is dedicated)by the People's Court in 1943 and the testimony of survivors. The work was also published in German in 1952.This copy has pencilled notations correcting and altering words in English and numbering certain sections. On the half-title is the note "To be rebound and returned to author" and, at the beginning of Chapter I, a

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