RAPANUI. DER UNTERGANG EINER WELT. ROMAN. Leipzig: L. Staackmann Verlag, 1923. Octavo, pp. [1-4] 5-354 [355: blank] [356: ads], original cream boards with blue cloth shelf back, publisher's monogram stamped in blind on front panel, spine panel stamped in black and gold, top edge stained black. First edition. A catastrophe fantasy about the destruction of an ancient civilization on a lost continent of which Rapunai (Easter Island) is all that remains. When the continent sinks beneath the sea people flee to higher ground but most perish in massive storms, earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. A few make it to safety and a boy and a girl are born, the progenitors of a new race. The central themes of the novel are the forces of order and disorder, creation and destruction, and the recurring nature of these forces. The first of four fantastic novels by Mayer. One of the five novels analyzed in depth in William S. Lewis, Catastrophist/Eschatological Motifs in German Speculative Fiction, 1895-1925. Lexikon 2, pp. 187-9. Bloch (2002) 2093. Nagl, p. 258. Lower corner tips rubbed, a very good plus to near fine copy. Uncommon. (#133875).
Price: $250.00
No statement of printing.