Faust, by Goethe - Part I & II | 1882 Antique Literature | Thomas Y. Crowell Co. publisher

Good condition book with wear commensurate with it's age - 1882! Ornately decorated with intricate embossing and gold gilt detailing. Pages ends gilded in gold. Some rubbing and fading evident on the boards and spine. Spine ends slightly frayed. Corners are bumped. Previous owner's name on front pastedown and front endpaper. Note from previous owner handwritten on back pastedown. Otherwise, no marks or writing on the pages. First illustration and rice paper separated from the book but still present. The rest of the book is holding up well. Faust is a tragic play in two parts by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, usually known in English as Faust, Part One and Faust, Part Two. Nearly all of Part One and the majority of Part Two are written in rhymed verse. Although rarely staged in its entirety, it is the play with the largest audience numbers on German-language stages. Faust is considered by many to be Goethe's magnum opus and the greatest work of German literature. The first appearance of the work in print was Faust, a Fragment, published in 1790. Goethe completed a preliminary version of what is now known as Part One in 1806. Its publication in 1808 was followed by the revised 1828–29 edition, the last to be edited by Goethe himself. Goethe finished writing Faust, Part Two in 1831; it was published posthumously the following year. In contrast to Faust, Part One, the focus here is no longer on the soul of Faust, which has been sold to the devil, but rather on social phenomena such as psychology, history and politics, in addition to mystical and philosophical topics. The second part formed the principal occupation of Goethe's last years.