Description
Book club edition of Mein Kampf by Adolf Hitler, in a scarce “Profits To Refugee Children” dust jacket.
Thick octavo, xxxvi, 1003pp. Red cloth, gilt-stamped on spine. Light rubbing to cloth, small ink mark to lower edge of text block, solid binding. Includes a tipped-in “Note To This Special Edition,” with commentary by Dorothy Thompson. Bookplate affixed to front endpaper. In the publisher’s dust jacket, tape repairs to verso, chipping along top edge, bright illustrations. Includes the scarce “Profits To The Refugees” dust jacket wrap, which is printed on this edition, unlike the trade edition. (Pastore, 210) An exceptionally scarce copy of this work to find in a dust jacket.
In 1933, Houghton Mifflin secured the rights from Eher Verlag to publish an English translation of Mein Kampf. A second edition was printed in 1937, with a controversial quote by Dorothy Thompson, the first journalist exiled from Nazi Germany. This quote led to protests from the German government, but the quote was not removed. In 1938, Reynal and Hitchcock approached Houghton Mifflin about a fully translated and unabridged copy of the book. Houghton Mifflin agreed, but the project was met with a public outcry that profits from the book would benefit Hitler. Reynal & Hitchcock agreed to donate all their proceeds to the “Refugees of Germany,” of which this copy still retains the original “Profits to the Refugees” dust jacket wrapper.
