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New York. 1942. February 1942. Viking Press. 1st American Edition. Very Good in Dustjacket. Translated from the German by Andrew St. James. 140 pages. hardcover. Jacket design by I. Steinberg. keywords: Europe Germany Literature Translated History Biography World Literature. DESCRIPTION - Did Amerigo Vespucci discover America? He did not. Did he first set foot upon the mainland? He did not. Did he ever claim either of these achievements, or suggest that his name be bestowed upon this mundus novus? A proposal so audacious would never have occurred to him. By what grotesque coincidence, then, did �America' become the name of that new world which should have been called �Columbia'? In this erudite and witty book, Zweig untangles the snarl of accident and forgery that produced so astonishing a denouement. Once on the trail of this grandiose case of mistaken identity, Zweig fills in with rapid, revealing strokes the background against which it took place. He pictures the drugged world of the Middle Ages slowly regaining consciousness, reaching out to embrace all knowledge, to dare all unknown dangers, to grasp to itself the riches of an earth whose scope it had just begun to comprehend. He evaluates Vespucci's actual contribution to that greatest age of discovery, shows how an unsought notoriety was thrust upon him, and how he, the most honest and modest of men, was vilified for generations as a liar and braggart. Zweig's powers of characterization, his unerring faculty for getting at the import ant truth in the morass of ancient fact, have made him one of the most popular historians and biographers of our day. He has never had a subject better suited to his talents. inventory #7400

New York: The Viking Press, 1939. 1st American Edition. Hardcover. Very Good/Very Good. 8vo. 498pp. Publishers blue cloth binding with title in gilt on spine and cover. WITH original dust jacket. Both book and DJ in near fine condition. Previous owner's inscription on front flyleaf dated February 20, 1941. This scarce 1st edition of Zweig's historical novel that was later adapted into film by Maurice Elvey in 1946. Wes Anderson loosely based The Grand Budapest Hotel off this work.