Some books are surprising, at least by today's standards. Item 181 is Plutocracy or, American White Slavery. A Politico-Social Novel. This obscure piece was the work of Thomas Manson Norwood. In this 1888 book, he assails the stock market, the trusts (the 19th century version of today's corporations), and the unequal distribution of wealth. What makes this surprising is that Norwood served as a senator and representative from Georgia. It is hard to imagine any senator from Georgia today attacking large corporations or unequal distribution of wealth. $85.
Item 104 is a hand-made photo album containing 60 photographs of Adolph Hitler and his inner circle. It was put together for his 44th birthday in 1933 by Heinrich Hoffmann, a close friend and personal photographer. Many of these informal photographs, taken from 1929-1931, appear not to be available elsewhere. Hitler shows up in 24 of the photographs, and his then closest aid, Joseph Goebbels, is also seen. However, what is remarkable is the presence of Angelika “Geli” Raubal in 55 of them. She was Hitler's half-niece, the daughter of his half-sister. His relationship with Geli remains a mystery. She came to his household when Hitler brought in his half-sister to manage it. He was controlling of his niece, either personally or through someone else keeping constant tabs on her. He forbid her from having normal relationships with men, and various other activities she wanted to pursue. Rumors spread that he was sexually involved with her. One of his opponents in the Nazi Party claimed some very deviant sexual practices he demanded of her. Whether this was politics or true is not known. Claims have been made that Hitler was homosexual, asexual, and heterosexual, so it is unclear whether she would have attracted him physically. Certainly, he was one of the more twisted personalities to ever emerge on the public stage, so it is hard to know exactly what was going on behind closed doors. Geli killed herself in 1931 at the age of 23, after some reputed heated arguments with Hitler. There were rumors that rather than suicide, he killed her. Again, what exactly happened is unknown. It is interesting that two years later, Hoffman would present Hitler with a photograph album filled with her images as a birthday present. Eva Braun was in the picture by this time. She obviously still was on his mind. Photographer Hoffman would later claim that the “seeds of inhumanity” were planted in Hitler after Geli's death, not that he was a nice guy before then. This album came to America as a result of being removed from Hitler's residence by a G.I. at the end of the war. $50,000.
Lorne Bair Rare Books may be reached at 540-665-0855 or info@lornebair.com. The website is www.lornebair.com.
