The Castle.: A Novel. Translated from the German by Willa and Edwin Muir.

London: Martin Secker,, 1930. Kafka's first full-length work translated into English First edition, first impression, of Kafka's first major appearance in English, providing the foundation for his great international standing. Perhaps due to the British public's unfamiliarity with the 'kafkaesque', initial sales "were appalling, though the book won recognition of Kafka's genius" (Hodges, p. 101). It is estimated that a mere 500 copies were sold. The Muir translations remain in print today. In his introductory note, Edwin Muir states that "Franz Kafka's name, so far as I can discover, is almost unknown to English readers" (p. v), having previously appeared only in disparate translations of his short stories. "It is because the Muirs toiled to communicate the incommunicable that Kafka, even in English, stands indisputably among the few truly indelible writers of the 20th century - those writers who have no literary progeny, who are sui generis and cannot be echoed or envied" (Bernofsky). The volume concludes with an essay by Kafka's literary executor, Max Brod. Kafka's last novel, it was first published as Das Schloss (1926). Octavo. Finely bound by the Chelsea Bindery in red morocco, spine lettered in gilt, raised bands, twin rule to turn-ins gilt, dark green endpapers, gilt edges. A fine copy. Susan Bernofsky, "On Translating Kafka's 'The Metamorphosis'", The New Yorker, 14 Jan. 2014; Sheila Hodges, Gollancz: The Story of a Publishing House, 1928-1978, 1978.