GOETHE, Johann Wolfgang von (1749-1832). [A group of 5 plays]. Leipzig: Georg Joachim Göschen, 1787.

First separate editions of 5 plays, including Goethe’s first mature play, Die Mitschuldigen, and adaptations of Euripides and Aristophanes. With Iphigenie auf Tauris, an adaptation of Euripides's original, Goethe became 'the first to transplant Greek drama onto the German cultural scene, just as, with Götz, he had been the first to transplant the Shakespearean mode onto the German stage’ (Swales, p.107). The comedy Die Vögel, based on Aristophanes’s Birds, satirizes Goethe’s relationship with his publishers, readers and the wider Weimar literary scene. Martin and Erika Swales. Reading Goethe: A Critical Introduction to the Work. New York: Camden house, 2002. A full description and condition report is available upon request. Hagen 169, 171, 183, 185, and 186.

Together 5 volumes, octavo (various sizes). Comprising: – Die Mitschuldigen. Ein Lustspiel... Ächte Ausgabe. Modern half calf; – Iphigenie auf Tauris. Ein Schauspiel... Ächte Ausgabe. Contemporary boards; – Die Geschwister. Ein Schauspiel... Ächte Ausgabe. 19th-century morocco; – Der Triumph der Empfindsamkeit... Ächte Ausgabe. Modern marbled boards; – Die Vögel. Nach dem Aristophanes... Ächte Ausgabe. Original wrappers.

Please note this lot is the property of a consumer. See H1 of the Conditions of Sale.