A Deluxe Production of a Prominent German Bibliophilic Society, in a Special Binding of Striking Design and Artful Execution

FÜRST GANZGOTT UND SÄNGER HALBGOTT [PRINCE ALL-GOD AND SINGER DEMIGOD].

(PRIVATE PRESS BOOKS, GERMAN - MARÉES-GESELLSCHAFT). VON ARNIM, LUDWIG ACHIM.

(Munich: R. Piper & Co. for the Marées-Gesellschaft, 1919). 322 x 250 mm. (12 3/4 x 9 3/4"). 93, [1] pp. No. 32 OF 150 COPIES on handmade paper (and 50 on Japan).

PLEASING DEEP GREEN PEBBLE-GRAIN MOROCCO, LAVISHLY GILT, covers framed with a double gilt rule enclosing a border of snowflakes bordered with dotted rolls, the oblong centerpiece composed of ten snowflakes within dotted rolls, raised bands, spine gilt in compartments, diapered VELLUM DOUBLURES, similarly gilt with snowflakes. Original (slightly soiled) printed paper wrappers bound in. Title page with vignette, each page with an illustrated heading, first page of text with inhabited initial, final page with tailpiece, and 20 FULL-PAGE LITHOGRAPHS, all by Max Neumann. A Large Paper Copy. Silk lining missing from front endleaf and coming loose from rear endleaf, internally with occasional light thumbing, otherwise an extremely fine copy, internally clean and fresh throughout, in an unworn binding.

With lively illustrations, this is the Marées-Gesellschaft edition of a story of doppelgängers, offered here in a very animated special binding. An associate of Goethe and Clemens Brentano, German Romantic poet and novelist Ludwig Achim von Arnim (1781-1831) wrote a number of works inspired by German folklore and legends. Sharing similarities with Twain's "Prince and the Pauper," von Arnim's "Fürst Ganzgott Und Sänger Halbgott" is a romp in which a prince ("god") and poet/singer ("demigod") realize they are exact doubles of one another, and cook up a scheme in which the charming poet helps the prince win over his princess. The story is accompanied here by avant-garde lithographs by Max Neumann (1885-1973), a painter and illustrator best remembered for his membership in the Berlin Secession who later faced censure from the Nazis over his "degenerate" art. In the present work, his illustrations bring the story to life, the sketchy lines and tonality of the artwork creating a sense of buoyant movement and comic haphazardness. Our publishers specialized in editions such as the present one, which combined classic German literature with modern, expressionist art. Founded in 1917 by art critic and writer Julius Meier-Graefe (1867-1935) and art historian and publisher Reinhard Piper (1879-1953), the Marées-Gesellschaft (Marées Society) was a prominent German bibliophile society and art publisher. Named after the realist painter Hans von Marées (1837–1887), one of Meier-Graefe's heroes, the Society issued high quality, limited editions featuring important illustrations--like the present production--until 1929. Our copy has vast margins and a particularly attractive binding of the time: while unsigned, the binding's skillful and elaborate tooling, striking design, and luxurious doublures indicate that it is clearly work of the highest quality. (ST20815a)

Price: $3,000.00