Sale Price:
£325.00
Original Price:
£500.00
1913 1st Trade Edition
PRINCESS BADOURA
A Tale from the Arabian Nights
Retold by Laurence Housman
An attractive first trade edition of Princess Badoura, Laurence Housman’s retelling of the celebrated tale from The Arabian Nights, illustrated with ten mounted colour plates by Edmund Dulac.
Published by Hodder & Stoughton in 1913 at the height of the Golden Age of British book illustration, the volume is one of Dulac’s most distinctive illustrated books. Here his work shows a marked engagement with Persian, Chinese and other Asian pictorial traditions, employing flattened perspective, decorative pattern and jewel-like colour to striking effect. The ten original watercolours reproduced in the book were exhibited at the Leicester Galleries in London during the 1913 Christmas season.
A particularly decorative production in the publisher’s cream cloth, elaborately blocked in turquoise and gilt to the upper board and spine. Complete with all ten mounted colour plates, including the frontispiece, each accompanied by its original captioned tissue guard printed in olive. The title page is likewise ornamented in olive.
This is the first trade edition, Hughey 31a, distinct from the subsequently issued edition de luxe of 750 numbered copies signed by Dulac. Contemporary and specialist bibliographical descriptions identify the trade issue as the first edition preceding the signed limited edition.
By Laurence Housman
Format: Hardcover, quarto (4to 9 1⁄2 × 12 in 241 × 305 mm )
Note: Binding/size selection follows standard bibliographic conventions and is approximate; exact measurements may vary.
Language: English
Published By: Hodder & Stoughton, London
Condition Report:
Dust Jacket: No Jacket, Dust Jacket Condition: No Jacket
Very Good - Publisher’s original cream pictorial cloth, decoratively blocked in turquoise and gilt to the upper board and spine. The upper board remains attractive, with the turquoise decoration and gilt retaining good definition and visual impact. Cloth with general age-related marking and scattered spotting; spine toned/browned with some dulling of the decoration and lettering, and minor wear at the extremities.
Internally with scattered foxing and spotting, more evident to the preliminary leaves and occasionally to margins, consistent with the age and cream stock of the volume. Title and decorative preliminary leaves present.
Complete with all 10 mounted colour plates, including the frontispiece, each retaining its captioned tissue guard. The illustrated plates remain notably bright and attractive, with strong colour and good presentation. Olive decorative title-page border and ornamentation present.
A sound and visually appealing example of one of Dulac’s characteristic late Golden Age gift books, with the important colour-plate suite complete.
Collation: [viii], 113, [1]
Please see Photos as part of condition report.
References:
Hughey 31a
Ann Conolly Hughey, Edmund Dulac: His Book Illustrations – A Bibliography
The ten watercolours were exhibited at the Leicester Galleries, London, from 15 November through the Christmas season of 1913.
Author Bio: Laurence Housman (1865–1959) was an English writer, playwright, illustrator and social campaigner. Trained as an artist, he initially established himself as an illustrator before increasingly turning to literature and drama. His writings ranged from fairy tales and children's literature to plays, poetry, biography and political works.
Housman had a particular facility for adapting traditional and legendary material for contemporary readers. In Princess Badoura he retells one of the romantic and fantastical narratives of The Arabian Nights, providing the literary framework for one of Edmund Dulac’s most distinctive sequences of illustrations.
Illustrated By: Edmund Dulac
Illustrator Bio: Edmund Dulac (1882–1953) was a French-born British illustrator and designer and one of the leading artists of the Golden Age of book illustration. After settling in London, he became closely associated with the Leicester Galleries and Hodder & Stoughton, producing a celebrated series of lavish illustrated gift books during the years before the First World War.
Among his best-known productions are Stories from The Arabian Nights (1907), Shakespeare’s The Tempest (1908), The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám (1909), The Sleeping Beauty and Other Fairy Tales (1910), Stories from Hans Andersen (1911), Poe’s The Bells and Other Poems (1912), and Princess Badoura (1913).
Princess Badoura occupies a particularly interesting place in Dulac’s development. Its illustrations make pronounced use of decorative pattern, flattened space and motifs derived from Asian and Persian art, creating a visual character noticeably different from that of his earlier fairy-tale books. Specialist descriptions have consequently singled it out as one of the more individual productions of his mature pre-war period.
Synopsis: Prince Camaralzaman and Princess Badoura, royal children of distant kingdoms, have each independently rejected the marriages arranged for them. Through supernatural intervention the two are mysteriously brought together while asleep and, after awakening apart, become determined to discover the identity of the person each believes they encountered.
Their eventual meeting leads not to a conventional conclusion but to further separation and adventure. A lost talisman sends Camaralzaman on an unexpected journey, while Badoura assumes male disguise and, through a succession of mistaken identities and political circumstances, finds herself exercising royal authority.
Combining romance, transformation, magic, travel and courtly intrigue, Housman’s retelling gives Badoura an unusually active role as strategist and ruler. Dulac’s ten colour illustrations complement the exotic settings of the tale with some of the most decorative and stylistically distinctive work of his career.
SKU: BTETM0002354
Shipping Info: Approximate Package Dimensions H: 12.5, L: 30, W: 25 (Units: cm), W: 2Kg
Tracked Shipping, Insurance Coverage as per Customer Request
1913 1st Trade Edition
PRINCESS BADOURA
A Tale from the Arabian Nights
Retold by Laurence Housman
An attractive first trade edition of Princess Badoura, Laurence Housman’s retelling of the celebrated tale from The Arabian Nights, illustrated with ten mounted colour plates by Edmund Dulac.
Published by Hodder & Stoughton in 1913 at the height of the Golden Age of British book illustration, the volume is one of Dulac’s most distinctive illustrated books. Here his work shows a marked engagement with Persian, Chinese and other Asian pictorial traditions, employing flattened perspective, decorative pattern and jewel-like colour to striking effect. The ten original watercolours reproduced in the book were exhibited at the Leicester Galleries in London during the 1913 Christmas season.
A particularly decorative production in the publisher’s cream cloth, elaborately blocked in turquoise and gilt to the upper board and spine. Complete with all ten mounted colour plates, including the frontispiece, each accompanied by its original captioned tissue guard printed in olive. The title page is likewise ornamented in olive.
This is the first trade edition, Hughey 31a, distinct from the subsequently issued edition de luxe of 750 numbered copies signed by Dulac. Contemporary and specialist bibliographical descriptions identify the trade issue as the first edition preceding the signed limited edition.
By Laurence Housman
Format: Hardcover, quarto (4to 9 1⁄2 × 12 in 241 × 305 mm )
Note: Binding/size selection follows standard bibliographic conventions and is approximate; exact measurements may vary.
Language: English
Published By: Hodder & Stoughton, London
Condition Report:
Dust Jacket: No Jacket, Dust Jacket Condition: No Jacket
Very Good - Publisher’s original cream pictorial cloth, decoratively blocked in turquoise and gilt to the upper board and spine. The upper board remains attractive, with the turquoise decoration and gilt retaining good definition and visual impact. Cloth with general age-related marking and scattered spotting; spine toned/browned with some dulling of the decoration and lettering, and minor wear at the extremities.
Internally with scattered foxing and spotting, more evident to the preliminary leaves and occasionally to margins, consistent with the age and cream stock of the volume. Title and decorative preliminary leaves present.
Complete with all 10 mounted colour plates, including the frontispiece, each retaining its captioned tissue guard. The illustrated plates remain notably bright and attractive, with strong colour and good presentation. Olive decorative title-page border and ornamentation present.
A sound and visually appealing example of one of Dulac’s characteristic late Golden Age gift books, with the important colour-plate suite complete.
Collation: [viii], 113, [1]
Please see Photos as part of condition report.
References:
Hughey 31a
Ann Conolly Hughey, Edmund Dulac: His Book Illustrations – A Bibliography
The ten watercolours were exhibited at the Leicester Galleries, London, from 15 November through the Christmas season of 1913.
Author Bio: Laurence Housman (1865–1959) was an English writer, playwright, illustrator and social campaigner. Trained as an artist, he initially established himself as an illustrator before increasingly turning to literature and drama. His writings ranged from fairy tales and children's literature to plays, poetry, biography and political works.
Housman had a particular facility for adapting traditional and legendary material for contemporary readers. In Princess Badoura he retells one of the romantic and fantastical narratives of The Arabian Nights, providing the literary framework for one of Edmund Dulac’s most distinctive sequences of illustrations.
Illustrated By: Edmund Dulac
Illustrator Bio: Edmund Dulac (1882–1953) was a French-born British illustrator and designer and one of the leading artists of the Golden Age of book illustration. After settling in London, he became closely associated with the Leicester Galleries and Hodder & Stoughton, producing a celebrated series of lavish illustrated gift books during the years before the First World War.
Among his best-known productions are Stories from The Arabian Nights (1907), Shakespeare’s The Tempest (1908), The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám (1909), The Sleeping Beauty and Other Fairy Tales (1910), Stories from Hans Andersen (1911), Poe’s The Bells and Other Poems (1912), and Princess Badoura (1913).
Princess Badoura occupies a particularly interesting place in Dulac’s development. Its illustrations make pronounced use of decorative pattern, flattened space and motifs derived from Asian and Persian art, creating a visual character noticeably different from that of his earlier fairy-tale books. Specialist descriptions have consequently singled it out as one of the more individual productions of his mature pre-war period.
Synopsis: Prince Camaralzaman and Princess Badoura, royal children of distant kingdoms, have each independently rejected the marriages arranged for them. Through supernatural intervention the two are mysteriously brought together while asleep and, after awakening apart, become determined to discover the identity of the person each believes they encountered.
Their eventual meeting leads not to a conventional conclusion but to further separation and adventure. A lost talisman sends Camaralzaman on an unexpected journey, while Badoura assumes male disguise and, through a succession of mistaken identities and political circumstances, finds herself exercising royal authority.
Combining romance, transformation, magic, travel and courtly intrigue, Housman’s retelling gives Badoura an unusually active role as strategist and ruler. Dulac’s ten colour illustrations complement the exotic settings of the tale with some of the most decorative and stylistically distinctive work of his career.
SKU: BTETM0002354
Shipping Info: Approximate Package Dimensions H: 12.5, L: 30, W: 25 (Units: cm), W: 2Kg
Tracked Shipping, Insurance Coverage as per Customer Request
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