24th ILAB International Antiquarian Book Fair - Vereinigung der ...

Felixmüller, Conrad (illustrator) & Walter
Rheiner. Kokain. Novelle. Dresden, ‹Dresdner
Verlag von 1917›, (1918–19). 4to. 43 pp. with
seven full page ill. by C. Felixmüller. Original
stiched boards with five colour stencil printing.
CHF 8800.–
Söhn p. 231. Raabe, Autoren 245.5. Lang, Expressionismus
58. – First edition of one of the milestones
of German Expressionism. – Walter Rheiner
(1895–1925) began a training as a businessman in
Liege, Paris and London. Already at the age of sixteen,
he was active as a writer. In 1917 he moved to
Berlin. There, constantly plagued by money worries,
Rheiner lived like a literary nomad staying
with friends or seeking shelter in cheap flophouses.
He spent much time begging in the legendary
‹Romanische Café› where he met with well-known
artists such as Claire and Ivan Goll, Else Lasker-
Schüler, Ludwig Meidner and Theodor Däubler. –
The short story «Cocaine» is an insightful study of
a cocaine psychosis, where he described the misery
of a drug addict, his life of hallucinations, and the
increasingly strong urge for injections.
In the end, the protagonist sees no way
out of his misery and commits suicide.
– Rheiner himself was addicted to cocaine
and morphine and, temporarily
declared incapacitated, he was sent to
a closed mental institution in Bonn.
At this point his artistic creativity was
dwindling, and, impoverished and
isolated, he spent his final years in a
nomadic existence and he committed
suicide in 1925 by taking an overdose
of morphine. – The book is illustrated
with powerful images by the German
expressionist artist Conrad Felixmüller
(1897–1977). He was a close friend
of Rheiner and dedicated to him his famous
painting «The Death of the Poet
Walter Rheiner». – Extremities slightly
rubbed. Small expertly repaired losses
to spine. Endpapers with minor wrinkles,
otherwise an unusual fresh copy
of this fragile book.
4 Abeceda