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PEER GYNT.
(London: George G. Harrap & Co. Ltd., 1936). 270 x 200 mm. (10 3/4 x 8"). 255, [3] pp. No. 178 OF 460 SIGNED COPIES of the First Rackham Edition, 450 of which were for sale.
Publisher's stiff vellum, upper cover with gilt lettering and illustrations, smooth spine lettered in gilt, pictorial endpapers, top edge gilt, other edges untrimmed, about two-thirds UNOPENED. With 12 COLOR PLATES (including frontispiece) BY ARTHUR RACKHAM, all protected by tissue guards with descriptive letterpress. A Large Paper Copy. Front pastedown with bookplate of Mariquita Brey. Latimore and Haskell, p. 74 ◆An outstanding copy.
Little changed from the day it left the printer, this is a copy in virtually mint condition of the limited edition of Rackham's "Peer Gynt," written by Henrik Ibsen in 1867. Rackham's accomplished full-page color illustrations here are the confident work of a mature artist approaching his 70th year. The charming village scenes and cozy cabin interiors contrast sharply with the menace of the wintry woods and the kingdom of the trolls. The translator here, R. Farquharson Sharp (1864-1945), says that his translation is an improvement over former ones because he has refused the temptation of retaining the rhymed verse of the original. He has instead chosen unrhymed verse in Ibsen's original meter in an attempt to capture the original, literal meaning. Arthur Rackham (1867-1939) studied art at Lambeth School, where the work of his fellow student Charles Ricketts influenced his development. Houfe tells us that soon after Rackham joined the staff of "The Westminster Budget" in 1892, he "established himself as one of the foremost Edwardian illustrators and was triumphant in the early 1900s when color printing first enabled him to use subtle tints and muted tones to represent age and timelessness." Copies of signed Rackham books are plentiful, but are seldom encountered in the kind of remarkable condition seen here. (ST19567-138)
Price: $1,750.00