I have not been able to find anything about this edition, other than what the inside cover label says about the GERMAN INFORMATION BUREAU and Max Noessler in Shanghai.
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Interesting and not common edition, reading the thread title I supposed, at first, to meet an edition written in some far easter characters too but we are definitely in front of a real nice and rare edition!
Here find more info About the place where the book has been find, according to the handwriting....
http://www.earnshaw.com/shanghai-ed-...s/t-scho01.htm
http://trove.nla.gov.au/ndp/del/article/36150674
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtop...f=101&t=147093
FabLast edited by Tora_Tora_Tora!; 08-01-2012, 01:48 AM. -
Because of the date of the book being found in Shanghai - October 1945 - I would assume that it was found and brought back to the USA by a member of the US Army.Originally posted by Tora_Tora_Tora! View PostComment
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Here's a better photo showing the book's color:
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Hi Oceansider,
Is one to assume that this edition of "Mein Kampf" was published in Mandarin or Cantonese, or is it in German? If it is in one of the major Chinese dialects then it is indeed a rare and unique edition. But from the title page it appears to be the 97th to 101st Edition (97.--101. Auflage) of "Mein Kampf," which would assumedly be in German. My own copy is of the 47th Edition (47. Auflage) and it was published in 1933 -- in German, and by the following year when yours was published, there had already been a huge sales boost caused by Hitler's ascent to the Chancellorship of Germany. There was so much demand for Hitler's book that the publisher had to combine editions to keep up with sales! So this being the 97th to 101st Edition of the German text would be totally in keeping with the period. In that case it would only be the presence of the sticker that would make this volume unique.
Br. JamesComment
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Having worked in publishing my best guess is that the shanghai publisher photographed the pages of a previous edition and reprinted it. That certainly would have been cheaper than shipping hundreds of books to China for the thousands of Germans living in Shanghai and Tientsin.Originally posted by Br. James View PostComment
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From the photos, to me it looks like a normal Volksausgabe (Peoples Edition; what Br. James is describing) with a very faded spine and somewhat faded covers. Can you show photos of the whole page/inside cover where the sticker is placed? Does it have the normal advertising pages in German at the end of the book? Does it have the photo page of Hitler at the front with tissue paper?
I don't know how much the label adds to the rarity or value; I've never seen that label in a "Mein Kampf" before, but there are others here with large MK collections who may have.
Best,
GregComment
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Here are some more photos of the first and last pages: no photo, no ads.Originally posted by Greg Walden View Post
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How common are items with the GERMAN INFORMATION BUREAU marks?
It was attached to the German Embassy in Shanghai and was called the "military propaganda" arm of Germany in Japanese-occupied China.\
As noted elsewhere in this thread, the book is marked as having been found in the Kaiser Wilhelm School in Shanghai and today I found some information about an American unit that may have found it, 3198th Signal Battalion, which ran the Allied communications for all of China:
"When the remainder of the 3198th was moved from Kunming to Shanghai, the group also took over the German school – the Kaiser Wilhelm Schule – for living space; the German radio station of the top floor of the school; and the German information bureau next door."Comment
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"The German Information Bureau" calls to mind "The German Library of Information," which operated out of an office building in the Battery area of downtown New York City prior to WWII. I am not aware that this office had any direct connection with the German Legation or the Embassy; it produced books and pamphlets extolling the virtues of "The New Germany" and all the wonderful attractions to be found there, sort of like an official travel agency though without actually selling tickets.
Your comment that no photo (of AH) or advertisements -- both of which are regular features of the standard German editions -- gives me to wonder how a whole series of editions could have been published without them? I have no thoughts on this to add!
Br. JamesComment
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It's certainly bound differently on the inside than a normal Volksausgabe. Here are some pictures of a XXIX Auflage Volksausgabe from 1933 to compare (the closest in date that I have to the one starting the thread). Don't know if the one starting the thread had been rebound, or as you said Ocernsider, photographed and reprinted by the publisher in China.
Best,
GregComment
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Here are some information dealing with the publisher Max Noessler:
http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maximil...C3%B6%C3%9Fler
GerdanComment
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