"Theben" by Else Lasker-Schüler – Berlin, 1923 – Ten Lithographs Signed by Lasker-Schüler

Theben, Gedichte und Lithographien [Thebes, Poems and Lithographs], by Else Lasker-Schüler, Berlin: Qüerschnitt, 1923. German.
Ten poems by Else Lasker-Schüler (lithographic printing of the manuscript), accompanied by black and white lithographs created by Lasker-Schüler. Copy no. 100 of 250 copies; all of the lithographs and the colophon are hand-signed by Else Lasker-Schüler, in pencil.
“I was born in Thebes, Egypt, although I came into the world in Elberfeld in the Rhineland.” This is how Else Lasker-Schüler characterized her background. She refers to the character of Jussuf Prince of Thebes, her alter ego, who served her in her life and in her works. Prince Jussuf of Thebes first appears on the binding of her book "Hebrew Ballads" (1913), and later in her book "The Prince of Thebes". The same character is prominent in the illustrations accompanying the anthology of poems offered here.
"Living in Berlin from 1894 onwards, Lasker-Schüler must have visited the city's famous Egyptian Museum, where she would have seen the collection from the necropolis of Thebes…It is easy to imagine Lasker-Schüler standing, lost in wonder, before these works of art, their colors – blue, yellow and red – vividly expressive, and their themes, androgyny among them, subtle and sensitive. The impact of this culture is evident in many aspects of her work, especially in her adoption of the figure of Prince Jussuf of Thebes… Lasker-Schüler also cast into this ancient Egyptian figure the figure of the contemporary Arab or Bedouin who – like the poet herself – wandered from place to place, as well as the biblical figure of Joseph the Dreamer. She perceived Joseph as an image of the artist, betrayed because of his art his dreams and his imagination, but eventually achieving greatness. The figure of Joseph also embodied the motif of wandering and the constant search for a homeland… Through her choice of an androgynous persona both in her art and in her life, she rebelled against the conventions of her day, which assigned women a passive, marginal role that Lasker-Schüler refused to play. Through Jussuf she could portray herself as she wished to be: an artist unbound by cultural norms and prohibitions, a universal figure fusing the two sexes, the three monotheistic religions, the ancient and the modern…”. (From: Else Lasker-Schüler, A Poet Who Paints, by Irit Salmon, in: Else Lasker-Schüler, A Poet Who Paints, exhibition catalogue. Hecht Museum, University of Haifa, 2006)
[14] leaves, 32 cm. Fine binding, covered with blue cloth with gold embossing; bound with raffia strings (most of them missing). Illustration by Lasker-Schüler on front binding. Body of book in good condition. Some tears and damages to binding.