George Dibbern [1889-1962] was born in Kiel, Germany. He went to sea as a ship's apprentice in 1907, and spent the First World War living among the Maoris in New Zealand until he was interned in 1918 and deported back to Germany. There he married and had a son, who died at five months, and three daughters. In the early 1930s, as the Nazis came to power, and after various business ventures and attempts at employment had failed, he began to find his life intolerably constricted. Leaving his family behind, with the hope of their rejoining him later, he set out on a journey back to New Zealand, which was both an escape from his present circumstances and a spiritual quest to find his true self. He sailed the oceans in his 32-foot boat "Te Rapunga", now as "a man without a country"and a self-styled "citizen of the world" until he finally reached New Zealand in 1934. He wrote the book "Quest" about his travels. He was interned once more in 1941, a month before the publication of "Quest", and was not permitted to sail again until the end of 1946 when "Te Rapunga" was returned to him. In the early 1960s, he planned to return to Germany to visit his family, but died of a heart attack in Auckland before he could undertake this journey.

In this eloquent and deeply personal letter to yacht designer Henry W. Uhle of Sparman & Stephens, Inc., he writes of his own passion for the sea and sailing boats and also urges Uhle [who has written to him about "Quest"] to discover his own path to spiritual freedom and fulfillment. "If you are a designer of yachts why not try to bring out a real seaship of under 40 ft with about a third beam and less than half of the beam as draught. I have seen no better all round seaship than the 'Te Rapunga'. Get away from the weekend boat, let it become a home, sensible and comfortable without luxury or silly dodads. Plain and good in line, boyant and good....Sailing the ocean in a small ship is an art of its own. The basis of thought and life becomes the ocean. One goes from Ocean to ocean over a port and not the other way round as it is done with all sailing up to now....I know all too well how it is when one has to work in a treadmill, one can never get ahead of oneself. So if you want to get out ever, do it by next spring with all the warm weather in front of you; take the few things you love best, sell the rest, and put it on a boat, if possible a child of your brain and hand and design....Happiness is far more necessary to our life than comfort, wealth, luxury....We are headed towards happiness as soon as we dare to do what we feel is our very own expression. We, like the old deciples[sic] of Christ, just simply have to leave all and go on the road..." He goes on to write of his internment and mentions that he received news there of his wife and daughters: "They got bombed out in Berlin in 1943 and had to go on the road with a suitcase, being sent here and there during the collapse...They had the hardest of times, and still had in November, when their last letter was written, but then at least they were alive..." He concludes "Once again let me thank you for your letter and if you can buy or build a hull, live in it become a member of some friendly but not posh club, and be a friend to other boatowners. You will then be on the road." He underlines "hull" in ink and inserts "the rigging, sails, interior you can add as you go along. The hull is the main thing."

Together with Henry Miller's book review of Dibbern's book entitled "QUEST / BY GEORGE DIBBERN". Published by (Circle Magazine, 1946). The Octavo, unbound 6-page publication consists of one 9-1/2 inch high by 13 inches wide sheet folded to form 4 pages with a 9-1/2 inch by 6-1/2 inch sheet laid in. The title page is illustrated with a black-and-white image of Dibbern's boat. The top edge of the title page & the front edges of the pages are chipped with several tears & some light creasing. 2 of the tears are repaired with document tape. There are small stains to the bottom margin of the last page. Good.

This is the first separate edition, reprinted from Circle Magazine 7-8, 1946.

Circle Magazine was collecting money to assist Dibbern on his eventual release from the camp. Scarce. 
Price: 150.00 USD