Goethe's FAUST (1922) Gesamtausgabe

Insel-Verlag “Dunkelblau-Gold” Gesamtausgabe of Goethes Faust, printed in the early 1920s.
This was part of Insel’s luxury-format hardcover line, separate from their pocket-sized Insel-Bücherei paperbacks. It was designed to be both scholarly and decorative — with gold-stamped titles and a heavy cloth binding (often in blue or burgundy).

During the 1910s–1920s, they used designs by typographers like Rudolf Koch and Melchior Lechter, combining: strong serif type, fine laid paper, minimalist layout, and durable cloth bindings in deep tones (blue, dark red, or gray).
Even if not a “first edition,” this copy represents one of the finest 20th-century presentations of Goethe’s masterpiece — a fusion of literary scholarship and early modern German book design. One of the earliest Insel “luxus” bindings post-WWI.

[ PROFILE ]:
Contents: Urfaust, Faust: Ein Fragment, Faust. Der Tragödie erster Teil (1808), Der Tragödie zweiter Teil (1832), Paralipomena, Parerga, and related scenes.
Editor: Hans Gerhard Gräf
Publisher: Insel-Verlag, Leipzig
Printer: Breitkopf & Härtel, Leipzig
Year: 1922 (Weimar Republic era)
Condition: Near-perfect preserved copy — rare for a 1920s cloth book
Language: German

[ EXTRA INFORMATION ]:
You'll note pencil underlining and marginal notes, as well as an inscription (gift dedication) on the first page.
The gift was given to "Dora Labor", by Heinrich Kramer on March 6th 1922. and writes "Remember me later, in many hours when we read Faust together in blissful moments. Yours, Heinr. Kramer"

[ Included: One book ]