Extremely Scarce Copy of Die Samländische Ode (The Samland Ode), Signed by Max Pechstein

Heinrich Lautensack; Max Pechstein, illus. DIE SAMLÄNDISCHE ODE. Berlin: Fritz Gurlitt, 1918 (prints executed 1917). Limited edition, no. 56 of 100 copies bound in half-linen (of 130 total copies with 30 bound in half-leather). Signed by Max Pechstein in pencil, "HMPechstein / 1917," on the limitation page. Large, thin folio; 37 numbered pages. With (21) lithographs on cream paper including (11) full-page and (10) in-text.

20 1/2 x 15 1/2 in.

Private Collection, Chapel Hill, North Carolina

According to Worldcat, this book is found in only (13) institutions worldwide including only (6) in the U.S. It is extremely rare at auction, with only one selling in the past decade and with seemingly no copies appearing in U.S. auction records.

Max Pechstein (1881-1955) was a German Expressionist and part of Die Brücke from 1906 until his dismissal from the Dresden-based group of artists in 1912. He is best known for creating paintings and prints featuring landscapes and figures. Like many other early modernists, he found inspiration in a variety of non-European cultures, and spent time traveling to the Baltic Coast and the South Seas. These influences are evident in his illustrations for The Samland Ode, an Expressionist poem that Lautensack wrote while traveling in the area of Samland Peninsula in the Baltic Coast while serving in the Germany army.

Boards scuffed and marked, with edge wear, a couple of faint damp stains, corners rubbed with loss of linen, and a name in pencil at the top edge of the upper board; spine fragile with tears in linen and cracking at joints revealing separation of backstrip, with boards loose but still attached; hinges reinforced; interior with light toning and scattered light foxing, occasional creasing and small stains and marks including a few areas with blue paint, and larger areas of damp staining concentrated in one corner; a few leaves with lightly frayed edges or small tears, a couple of leaves with minor separation at head, and a few with possible small areas of professional repair at the edge.