Mein Kampf becomes an ebook bestseller

MontyB

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Mein Kampf becomes an ebook bestseller

Digital editions of Adolf Hitler's fascist screed, in less public format, attract surge in readers


Mein-Kampf-011.jpg
Mein bestseller … an untitled art installation by artist Christoph Buchel, made up of copies of Mein Kampf, is seen at the annual Frieze Art Fair in Londonin 2006. Photograph: Carl De Souza/AFP/Getty Images

Digital editions of Mein Kampf have become a surprise hit online, according to author Chris Faraone, who has suggested that the newfound popularity of Adolf Hitler's tract is down to the fact that it can now be consumed "in the privacy of our own iPads".
Writing on the website Vocativ.com, author and journalist Faraone claims that "more than a dozen free English-language versions of Mein Kampf have been downloaded in excess of 100,000 times from the nonprofit Internet Archive alone", while paid-for e-versions are outselling Glenn Beck on iTunes and entering the charts on Amazon.com - with a 99-cent version currently topping the retailer's propaganda and political psychology chart .
In the UK, an ebook of Mein Kampf, retailing for 99p, tops Amazon.co.uk's propaganda and spin chart and its fascism and Nazism chart, and sits in second place in its political science and ideology bestseller list.
Another 99-cent version, from publisher Elite Minds, sits in 11th place in Amazon.com's World War II charts. "Sales are great," publisher Michael Ford, told Faraone, admitting to the "moral dilemma" he would face if he were to promote the book and advocate "something that could be misused". "I have not heavily promoted the book and decided, for the most part, to let it spread among those who have a true historical and academic interest naturally," said Ford.
Print sales of Mein Kampf are negligible, but Faraone believes the title's resurgence in digital format could be "a cultural curiosity much like what's happened with sleazy romance novels, which surveys show are increasingly consumed in more clandestine e-form".
"People might not have wanted to buy Mein Kampf at Borders or have it delivered to their home or displayed on their living room bookshelf, let alone get spotted reading it on a subway, but judging by hundreds of customer comments online, readers like that digital copies can be quietly perused then dropped into a folder or deleted," writes Faraone. "Similar comments have been made about the erotic smash hit 50 Shades of Grey [but] compared to Mein Kampf, books about chains and leather seem pretty soft core."


http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/jan/09/mein-kampf-ebook-bestseller-adolf-hitler


I once sat down and tried to read Mein Kampf and would rate it as one of the most poorly written diatribes I have ever read, it rambles on endless until I pretty much gave up on it (Lord of the Rings had the same affect on me oddly enough), I can understand someone buying an original as a collectors item but I can not understand anyone actually wanting to read it today.
 
I was given a 1939 edition, in English and pub in the US, years ago by a woman at a yard sale. Still has orig. cover.
Does anybody know if it is worth anything?
 
It would depend on the edition, several versions of it were released for different events.

if you can describe the cover it would help determine what version you have, if it is 1939 though it it is probably an anniversary copy to commemorate Hitlers 50th birthday, is it in English or German if it is English who translated it as the James Murphy translation is the only one authorised by the Third Reich.
 
I used my usual valuation service in that I looked on EBay and found a number of 1939 versions in the US all around $30 - $40.
 
But are they genuine 1939s or reprints of the 1939 translation?

For example the 1938 reprint sells for $27 the original 1938 sells for $10,000, the translation of the 1939 Anniversary copy reprint is $28 the original is around $600.

Here is an example...

http://www.od43.com/Jubilee_Mein_Kampf.html
 
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Personally I am amazed so many copies still exist, I imagine that during the war Allied countries would have used them for toilet paper and after the war Germans would have got rid of them as fast as possible to avoid guilt by association.
 
Personally I am amazed so many copies still exist, I imagine that during the war Allied countries would have used them for toilet paper and after the war Germans would have got rid of them as fast as possible to avoid guilt by association.

I can't remember where I read it, but I believe there was a London book wholesaler who had several tons of them in stock when war was declared. It was alleged that he withdrew them from sale and stacked them up around his office using them as splinter shields. It sounds credible.
 
There was an English copy in my public library in UK years ago, I tried reading it but gave up, it was nowt more then the ramblings of a nutter.
 
It would depend on the edition, several versions of it were released for different events.

if you can describe the cover it would help determine what version you have, if it is 1939 though it it is probably an anniversary copy to commemorate Hitlers 50th birthday, is it in English or German if it is English who translated it as the James Murphy translation is the only one authorised by the Third Reich.

The paper cover is overall orange, COMPLETE and DEFINITIVE UNEXPURGATED EDITION, FULLY ANNOTATED is printed on the top of the front and MIEN KAMPF is in a white circle in the center. It is polished by REYNAL & HITCHCOCK, 1939, NEW YORK

There is an annotation on the front and back cover “All proceeds from this edition, after deducting all legitimate expenses as approved by the Editorial Committee, will be devoted to a fund for refugees.”

The actual cover of the book is red with lettering only on the spine.

The inside of the title page shows ‘COPYRIGHT, 1939, BY HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY with further copyrights: 1925 and 1927, by VERLAG FRZ. EHER NACHF, G.m, b.H. and This Edition is published by arrangement with Houghton Mifflin Company, Boston, Massachusetts.
 
There is a stamp on the inside of the front and back cover “DR.J. NICKLESON”, I assume the Dr. owned this book at some point.

The book and cover is in excellent shape and is complete.
 
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