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Friedrich NIETZSCHE

Zur Genealogie der Moral. Eine Streitschrift [Généalogie de la morale] [avec] Götzen-Dämmerung oder Wie man mit dem Hammer philosophirt [Crépuscule des idoles]

C. G. Naumann, Leipzig 1887 et 1889, 14x22cm, 2 volumes reliés en 1.

Zur Genealogie der Moral. Eine Streitschrift [On the Genealogy of Morals] [with] Götzen-Dämmerung oder Wie man mit dem Hammer philosophiert [Twilight of the Idols or How to Philosophize with a Hammer]
C. G. Naumann | Leipzig 1887 & 1889 | 14 x 22 cm | 2 volumes bound in 1 in calf
First edition for both texts.
Contemporary quarter brown polished calf binding, spine with five raised bands ruled and decorated in gilt and blind, marbled paper boards, stylized acanthus leaves endpapers and pastedowns, marbled edges.
Exceptional reunion of these two great Nietzschean texts, the very last ones written before the philosopher succumbed to madness.
On the Genealogy of Morals was written in Sils-Maria in the summer of 1887. Only 600 copies were printed at the author's expense, immediately after the setback of Beyond Good and Evil: “everyone complained that they 'don't understand me', and the 100 or so copies sold made me understand in a very tangible way that they 'don't understand me'” (letter to Heinrich Köselitz, July 18, 1887). The statement on the verso of the Genealogy's title page “Dem letztveröffentlichen 'Jenseits von Gut und Böse' zur Ergänzung und Verdeutlighnung beigegeben” [An addition to the last published 'Beyond Good and Evil' which is meant as a supplement and a clarification] testifies to this desire for further explanation. Sales of this “polemical writing” – a subtitle chosen by the philosopher – were not as successful as expected: William Schaberg (The Nietzsche Canon) reveals that only 203 book orders were registered two months after its publication; this did not prevent Nietzsche from ordering a second edition of 1 000 copies from Naumann in October 1891.
Long considered a simple addendum, The Genealogy was only recently rediscovered by academics, and is now viewed as one of the most important essays on ethics.
On September 7, 1888, Nietzsche sent a new manuscript to Naumann: “I am about to give you a nice surprise. You probably think we are finished with printing but even now the cleanest manuscript I have ever sent to you is on its way. [...] The title is A Psychologist at Leisure”. The Leipzig publisher immediately started printing this new work whose titled changed into Twilight of the Idols after a suggestion of Peter Gast: a barely concealed reference to Wagner's own Twilight of the Gods, masterpiece of the composer with whom Nietzsche had fallen out ten years earlier. Accustomed to urging his publisher, Nietzsche asked him to delay the printing already under way: in the meantime, he sent him the important chapter entitled “What the Germans Lack” as well as aphorisms 32 to 43 of the “Skirmishes of an Untimely Man”. The final version consists of a foreword, ten chapters and an excerpt from Thus Spoke Zarathustra (“The Hammer Speaks”). The first chapter “Maxims and Arrows” (“Sprüche und Pfeile”) contains 44 aphorisms, including the iconic: “What does not kill me makes me stronger” and also “Without music, life would be a mistake”.
1 000 copies of this work were ultimately released in January 1889 as Nietzsche, then in Turin, had just fallen into madness.

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