Die Frohliche Wissenschaft ("la gaya scienza"). Neue Ausgabe (The Gay Science…) by NIETZSCHE, Friedrich - 1887: mit einem Anhange: Lieder des Prinsen Vogelfrei

Leipzig: E.W. Fritzsch, 1887. First Thus. Hardcover. Very good. First complete edition of one of Nietzsche’s most important texts!


NIETZSCHE, Friedrich. Die Frohliche Wissenschaft ("la gaya scienza"). Neue Ausgabe mit einem Anhange: Lieder des Prinsen Vogelfrei (The Gay Science…). E.W. Fritzsch, Leipzig, 1887. [III] – XII = Vorrede + 1 leaf = Half-title + [5] – 350 + 1 leaf = Berichtigungen; Octavo. First Edition, Second Issue (Definitive). Schaberg 51.


A must have for any Nietzsche collection. This Neue Ausgabe consisted of the 788 unsold sheets from the first edition of 1882 with the addition of a new title page, Nietzsche’s new 10-page Vorrede (Preface), 2 new half-title pages and a new 5th book, "Wir Furchtlosen" (“We Fearless Ones”). Thus, 75 new pages along with fourteen pages of poetry appear here for the first time. While the first edition appeared in 1882, it was incomplete. This is truly the first edition of the complete and definitive text of what is today read as The Gay Science. Nietzsche felt, that the Vorrede to this and the other reissues of 1886/7 were among the best things that he ever wrote.

The Gay Science, which is the final and culminating volume of Nietzsche’s aphoristic works, contains the first instance of his famous statement, “Gott ist tot!” (God is Dead) – first in section 108, then more elaborately detailed in the Parable of the Madman in section 125, and for a third time in section 343. It also contains the first appearance of the doctrine of the "Eternal Return of the Same" (which plays such a prominent role in Zarathustra) and even includes the Nietzsche’s first mention of the Uebermensch.


CONDITION: Contemporary ¾ leather with marbled boards. Gilt lettering to spine. Moderate foxing to title page and last leaves. Some moisture staining to the last few leaves along top, not affecting text. Pages bright and clean throughout save minor pencil notes to 2 or 3 pages. A very good copy of one of Nietzsche’s most important works.



PHOTOS AVAILABLE UPON REQUEST