[2 volumes] The Ring of the Niblung
London / New York: William Heinemann / Doubleday, Page & Co., 1910-1911. Binding: Full calf boards, uppers with blind medallion decoration. Spines with 5 raised bands, gilt-lettered black morocco labels in second and fourth compartments. Marbled pasted and free endpapers. All edges black.
, Notes: Small quarto. (250 x 190 mm).
Arthur Rackham (1867 – 1939) was an English book illustrator. His work is noted for its robust pen and ink drawings, which were combined with the use of watercolour, a technique he developed due to his background as a journalistic illustrator. Arthur Rackham is widely regarded as one of the leading illustrators from the 'Golden Age' of British book illustration which roughly encompassed the years from 1890 until the end of the First World War. During that period, there was a strong market for high quality illustrated books which typically were given as Christmas gifts. Many of Rackham's books were produced in a deluxe limited edition, often vellum bound and usually signed, as well as a smaller, less ornately bound quarto 'trade' edition. This was sometimes followed by a more modestly presented octavo edition in subsequent years for particularly popular books. The onset of the war in 1914 curtailed the market for such quality books, and the public's taste for fantasy and fairies also declined in the 1920s.
, Size: Small quarto. , Illustration: Very good example of this classic. Illustrated with 64 tipped in colour plates (34 in first volume, 30 in second). Gilt-illustrated original cloth mounted to flyleaf in each volume. Misbound: first volume opens with pgs. 33-48, followed by pgs. 17-32, pgs. [1]-16, pgs. 49 onwards., Volume: 2 volumes. , Category: Book Classics;. Gift inscription inked to flyleaf in first volume, crayon number to upper corner of title. Interiors clean and crisp. Item #B7320
Price: $750.00