Count Alfred Hessenstein
Dent, London, 1939. Hardcover. Drawings by Spitz. 1st Edition. 48 pages,120 x 180mm.
Fair condition, slightly grubby on covers. Some damage to top of spine, the binding is delicate but holding. Heavy foxing on the edges of the book and some light foxing throughout.
First edition. Illustrated throughout with drawings by Spitz. According to The Age, 20 Jan 1940: "A grim type of humour is circulating in Germany, it is born of suffering and repression, its general theme the time when Germany will be freed from the Nazi regime. The mass of these jokes are directed against Hitler and other Nazi leaders, mostly cynical gibes at their foibles and weaknesses. A collection of stories and jokes has been made by Count Alfred Hessenstein, and with the title 'The Joke's on Hitler, ' they are published in a little book by J. And M. Dent. There are many laughs in these 'underground whispers from the land of the concentration camp'; realising the conditions that gave them birth, there is something more than laughter in them. "