Giganten. Ein Abenteuerbuch

Berlin: S. Fischer Verlag, 1932. First edition of German novelist Alfred Döblin’s Giganten, inscribed by Döblin to the Russian-Jewish political writer Isaac Steinberg (1888-1957), from the library of Steinberg’s son, art historian Leo Steinberg (1920-2011). While Döblin is best remembered for his 1929 realist novel Berlin Alexanderplatz, critical attention in recent years has turned to his ambitious, dystopian works of science fiction. Giganten is a revised and condensed version of Döblin’s 1924 Berge Meere und Giganten, adapted in an effort to find his sprawling eco-horror novel a broader audience. Döblin’s vision of a precarious global future characterized by energy crises, relentless genetic engineering, and environmental catastrophe now seems prescient. The unabridged 1924 text was finally translated into English as Mountains Oceans Giants in 2021. Döblin has inscribed this copy of Giganten to his friend Isaac Steinberg, a Russian exile, Socialist Revolutionary, and leader of the Jewish Territorialist movement. In Berlin, Steinberg convinced Döblin to join the Zionist movement “Freiland-Liga,” and in 1932, both men participated in the Sholem Aleichem Club to discuss Jewish settlements in Siberia. The inscription reads: “Dem Genossen Steinberg. Mit schönen Grüßen. Von Haus zu Haus. Alfred Döblin. 7.4.32” [“To Comrade Steinberg. With kind regards. From house to house. Alfred Döblin. April 7, 1932.”] For more on the relationship between Döblin and Steinberg, see Gabriele Sander, “A Banner I Could Not Hold Aloft: Alfred Döblin and Judaism.” European Judaism 34:1, 2001. Text in German. A sound copy of a compelling novel, very scarce inscribed. Single volume, measuring 8 x 5 inches: [8], 11-377, [7]. Original tan cloth stamped in brown and red, upper board lettered in brown. Presentation inscription from Döblin to Isaac Steinberg on preliminary blank. Owner signature of Leo Steinberg to front free endpaper. Light soiling to cloth and edges, trace of insect damage to upper joint; no dust jacket.