Felix Salten | Bambi, 1923, inscribed; with another inscribed book and a letter

Felix Salten

Bambi: Eine Lebensgeschichte aus dem Walde. Berlin: Verlag Ullstein, 1923. First edition, INSCRIBED BY THE AUTHOR TO ERNST ARNOLD on the title page and dated 18 April 1935, 8vo (215x150mm), 4pp. publisher's adverts at end, decorative illustrated initials, publisher's pictorial cloth-backed boards, top edge red, frayed at edges and spine, lightly stained

[with:] Bob und Baby. Berlin: Paul Zsolanay Verlag, [1925]. First edition, inscribed by the author to Selina Halban-Kunz and dated Vienna January 1926, 4to (252x182mm), [also with, loosely inserted:] autograph letter signed, presenting her with the book, 1 page, 7 January 1926

A RARE INSCRIBED COPY OF THE FIRST EDITION IN BOOK FORM OF THE CLASSIC TALE OF A YOUNG DEER'S COMING-OF-AGE. The story was first published in the periodical Die Neue Freie Presse in 1922, before appearing in book form a year later. We have no record of an inscribed copy of the first edition appearing at auction in more than twenty years. This book was inscribed by the author for the prominent Austrian singer and composer Ernst Arnold (1890-1962). Salten was still in Austria in 1935 but was facing increasing anti-Semitism. He fled the country for Switzerland at the time of the Anschluss in 1938.

PROVENANCE

Ernst Arnold (1890-1962): Authorial presentation inscription and bookplate