The Transposed Heads: A Legend of India
Kentfield, California: The Allen Press, 1977.
Limited Edition. Hardcover.
Allen Press Book #43. Limited edition of one hundred forty copies.
The type face is Goudy Thirty, set by hand. The all-rag paper was made by hand at St. Cuthberts Mill in England, to Press specifications, including the Press's watermark; the paper was printed damp on an 1846 model Columbian handpress. The decorative Sanskrit headings on text pages may be translated: Thomas Mann - The Transposed Heads - A Legend of India - Produced by Hand. The illustrative decorations are by early Indian artists. The colorful cotton cloth for the binding was hand-blocked by Indian villagers. Translated from the German by H.T. Porter-Lowe. Introduction by Raghavan Iyer, Ph.D. Designed, printed, and bound by Lewis & Dorothy Allen at The Allen Press. Prospectus laid in.
The first German text produced by the Allen Press. Mann’s only novel set in India and, according to his daughter Elisabeth, his favorite work. The Transposed Heads is a 1940 novella based on an ancient Indian legend in which two friends attempt suicide by beheading themselves and awaken to find that their heads have been exchanged. The novel explores themes of identity, mind, body and spirit, and the conflict between love and desire.
Item #9025228-3/4 x 13", hand-block Indian cotton over boards, printed title label on spine, deckled fore- and bottom-edges, 108pp, 15 three-color illustrative decorations, text pages have decorative Sankskrit running-heads in color.
Clean, square, crisp, very fine in original clear acetate dust wrapper.
Price: $450.00