Fontane, Theodor. The Poggenpuhls. 2 Bl., 176 S. With title vignette. 18 x 12 cm. Light brown OLeinenband (minimally rubbed) with gold-embossed back and cover title as well as Art Nouveau illustration on the VDeck in gold, green and dark brown. Berlin, Friedrich Fontane & Co., 1896. Chopped 234. Borst 4148. – First edition of the book, the first print not recorded at Schobeß, appeared in 1895/96 in Spemenn's illustrated magazine Vom Fels zum Meer. Exemplary in the rare cover variant of the bar ranger Friedrich Volckmar with the well-known Art Nouveau motif on the front cover (lower sun between two strongly stylized trees) and its signet on the back cover. The cover, which was also used for other Fontane titles, was designed by Carl Schmidt-Helmbrechts (1872-1936), an employee of the magazine Jugend, with its signet on the front cover (see Georg Wolpert. The publications of the first editions of Theodor Fontanes (V). In: Fontane Blätter Heft 104, Jg 2017. ==References== Fontane's later, realistic novel from Berlin's society is characterized by a change in the booths: the impoverished Prussian nobility must overcome the tradition of standing and arrange with the new Jewish "money aristocracy". The editors of the popular weekly publication at home had rejected the manuscript. "The book is not a novel and has no content [...] That this nothing, which it is so amiable for its form, fills me with great hope, not for me, but for our literary future" (Theodor Fontane, quoted according to KNLL). – Paper-relatedly weakly tanned, title with old property note. Very nice and fresh specimen in the rare cover variant.