Beckmann, M., Ebbi. Komödie. With 6 signed orig. etchings by M. Beckmann. Vienna, Johannes-Presse 1924. Orig. half vellum. Large 4to.Hofmaier 306-308 II. - Gallwitz 274-276. - Artist and the Book 22. - Jentsch 151. - Schauer II, 117. - Lang 15 (erroneously mentions 1914). - Not in the Rifkind Collection and in Matuszak. - 1 of 33 Roman numb. copies of the de-luxe edition, extremely rare! - Second print of the Johannes-Presse, Vienna. - Fine press print in the Ratio Latin -Type of W. Kleukens for the 'Gesellschaft der 33'; also signed by artist in publisher's imprint. Etchings printed by R. Lauterbach. Size of paper ca. 33,2 : 24,2 cm, size of plates ca. 19,5 : 15 cm. - "At times deeply dismayed by World War I and life in Frankfurt, at times amused, Beckmann wrote a tragedy: 'Das Hotel', and a comedy: 'Ebbi'. Both works were made around 1920. In them Beckmann presents people who paraphrase matters such as greed, dependency and human weakness, squares and pseudo-intellectuals, whores and murderer. He even appeared on the illustration for Ebbi as the murderer Nispel .. In Ebbi the action culminates between the murderer Nispel and the victim in a dialog about god and eternity.. " (translation of quote from P. Beckmann, Max Beckmann. Leben und Werk. Stuttgart/Zurich 1982. pp. 51f.)."Beckmann's almost entirely unknown comedy Ebbi was not reprinted before 1984, as fourth print of the Leipzig Dürer-Press. In 1980 the director Gerd Udo Feller premiered the play at the 'Westfälische Kammerspiele' in Paderborn (season 1980/81). In a letter to his publisher Reinhard Piper, dated 8 April 1923, Beckmann defended the play, as Piper was rather skeptical about it: 'I'm sorry about the fact that you are not satisfied with the comedy. However, I do not entirely agree with you. To me, the actual tragic moment lies in the fourth act and in the final scene, where you expect something grotesque and bizarre to happen, I, however, see the eternal tragedy of a man, who strove to surpass himself and always falls back to his weak self . It is a modern Hamlet. At least this is how I see it.'" (Translation of quote from Jentsch) - Binding with slight trace of sunning, corners scuffed. All in all clean broad-margined copy on better paper. Copy from the German Language School of Marin , California.