1936 First Rackham Edtn Publisher's Special Morocco PEER GYNT By Henrik Ibsen, Translated by R. Farquharson Sharp. Illus. Arthur Rackham

1936 First Rackham Edition Publisher's Special Morocco

PEER GYNT
By Henrik Ibsen, Translated by R. Farquharson Sharp.

KEY DETAILS
Condition: Very Good
Format: Hardcover, 4to; Approx. 250mm x 193mm
Published By: George G. Harrap & Co. Ltd., London, 1936
Language: English
Illustrated By: Arthur Rackham
Collation: 255, [1] pp. Complete with 12 mounted colour plates, including frontispiece, all with their original captioned tissue guards, together with numerous monochrome illustrations, head- and tailpieces and decorative devices by Arthur Rackham throughout. Final unnumbered page bears the printer's statement recording R. Farquharson Sharp's translation, R. & R. Clark Ltd. of Edinburgh as printers of the text, and McLagan & Cumming of Edinburgh as printers of the colour plates. Complete as issued.
Dust Jacket: None, as issued, No Jacket
SKU: BTETM0002617
Shipping Info: Approximate Package Dimensions H: 12.5, L: 30, W: 25 (Units: cm), W: 2Kg
Tracked Shipping, Insurance Coverage as per Customer Request

DESCRIPTION
Peer Gynt
A Dramatic Poem By Henrik Ibsen Translated by R. Farquharson Sharp Illustrated by Arthur Rackham The first Arthur Rackham-illustrated edition of Henrik Ibsen's Peer Gynt, issued by George G. Harrap & Co. in 1936, this copy being in the scarce publisher's special full dark-green morocco binding rather than the considerably more common cloth trade binding. Harrap produced three notably different forms of the Rackham Peer Gynt: the ordinary trade issue in pictorial cloth; the signed limited edition of 460 copies in vellum; and this much less frequently encountered publisher's special morocco binding issue. Contemporary and specialist booksellers have variously described the latter as the “Publisher's Special Morocco Binding” or deluxe binding issue. It should not be confused with the separately numbered and signed vellum edition. Bound in full dark-green morocco, the upper board is enclosed by a double gilt rule and carries the title and Rackham's distinctive pictorial design blocked in gilt. The smooth spine is lettered and ornamented in gilt, with top edge gilt. The volume retains Rackham's striking pictorial endpapers printed in tan and white. The title page, printed in green and black, bears Rackham's decorative vignette. The book is profusely illustrated throughout with Rackham's characteristic pen-and-ink drawings, head- and tailpieces and decorative devices, together with twelve mounted colour plates, including the frontispiece. All twelve original captioned tissue guards are present. The colour plates were produced by McLagan & Cumming of Edinburgh, while the text, set in Bembo type, was printed by R. & R. Clark Ltd., Edinburgh. The edition uses R. Farquharson Sharp's translation by arrangement with J. M. Dent & Sons Ltd. Published during the final years of Rackham's career, Peer Gynt provided an unusually sympathetic vehicle for his imagination. Ibsen's trolls, enchanted forests, supernatural encounters and shifting boundary between fantasy and reality allowed Rackham to return to many of the subjects with which his art had become most closely associated. A handsome and substantially scarcer presentation of one of Rackham's important late illustrated books.

CONDITION, COLLATION & COPY NOTES
A very good copy in the publisher's special full dark-green morocco binding. The binding remains attractive and structurally sound, with strong gilt to the upper board and spine. Some light rubbing and handling wear to the leather, principally at the extremities, together with light bumping to the corners and extremities of the text block. The boards show a slight bow, as visible in the photographs. Rackham's pictorial endpapers are present and well preserved. Internally clean, bright and attractive, with no significant foxing noted. The mounted colour plates remain bright and clean. Complete with all twelve colour plates and all twelve original captioned tissue guards present. The plates comprise: Peer before the King of the Trolls — frontispiece Aase on the Mill-house Roof — facing p.30 Peer among the Wedding Guests — facing p.40 Peer and Solveig at the Wedding — facing p.44 Peer follows the Woman in Green — facing p.66 The Dance of the Trolls — facing p.74 Peer and the Troll Witch — facing p.100 The Death of Aase — facing p.108 Anitra's Dance — facing p.148 Peer and the Statue of Memnon — facing p.170 Peer and the Threadballs — facing p.222 The Thin Person — facing p.244 Numerous additional monochrome drawings and decorative illustrations by Rackham appear throughout the text. Please see Photos as part of condition report.

REFERENCES
Latimore & Haskell, Arthur Rackham: A Bibliography, p.74. Riall, A New Bibliography of Arthur Rackham, p.192. The publisher's special dark-green morocco binding issue is also documented in specialist Rackham catalogues, including David Brass Rare Books, where a near-fine example was described as the “Publishers Special Morocco Binding.”

SYNOPSIS
First published in 1867, Henrik Ibsen's Peer Gynt is a sprawling dramatic poem combining Norwegian folklore, fantasy, satire and philosophical allegory. Peer is an imaginative, boastful and deeply self-absorbed young man whose refusal to accept ordinary limitations propels him from rural Norway into a succession of increasingly extraordinary adventures. After disrupting a wedding and carrying off the bride, he encounters trolls and supernatural beings in the mountains, including the Dovre King and his grotesque court. Rejecting responsibility and abandoning the devoted Solveig, Peer wanders abroad in pursuit of wealth, power and experience. His travels carry him through commercial speculation, North Africa, the desert, an encounter with the seductive Anitra, the Sphinx and finally a Cairo madhouse. Returning to Norway as an old man, Peer confronts the mysterious Button-Moulder, who threatens to melt him down because he has spent his life avoiding the question of who he truly is. His final reunion with Solveig gives the work its emotional and spiritual resolution. Beneath its comedy, folklore and fantastical episodes, Peer Gynt is an examination of identity, selfishness, self-deception, mortality and redemption. Its mixture of trolls, enchanted landscapes, strange creatures and dreamlike encounters made it particularly well suited to Rackham's imagination. The work also achieved an enduring cultural afterlife through Edvard Grieg's celebrated incidental music, commissioned for an 1876 stage production and containing such familiar pieces as Morning Mood and In the Hall of the Mountain King.

AUTHOR BIO
Henrik Ibsen (1828–1906) was a Norwegian playwright, poet and theatre director whose work transformed nineteenth-century European drama and profoundly influenced the development of modern theatre. His major plays include Brand, Peer Gynt, A Doll's House, Ghosts, An Enemy of the People, The Wild Duck, Hedda Gabler and The Master Builder. Through his increasingly psychologically complex treatment of marriage, morality, social convention and individual responsibility, Ibsen became one of the central figures in the emergence of modern realist drama. Peer Gynt occupies a distinctive position within his work. Written before the great sequence of realist social dramas for which he is now perhaps best known, it combines verse, folklore, fantasy, satire and philosophical speculation on a vast scale. TRANSLATOR Robert Farquharson Sharp (1864–1945) was a British writer, bibliographer and translator whose English versions of Ibsen were widely published during the early twentieth century. Sharp translated a number of Ibsen's plays for J. M. Dent & Sons, including Peer Gynt, Ghosts, An Enemy of the People, Rosmersholm and The Pillars of Society. His translation of Peer Gynt was used by Harrap for this 1936 Rackham edition by arrangement with Dent.

ILLUSTRATOR
Arthur Rackham
Arthur Rackham RWS (1867–1939) was one of the pre-eminent illustrators of the Golden Age of British book illustration. After training at the Lambeth School of Art while initially working as an insurance clerk, Rackham became a professional illustrator and developed an immediately recognisable style combining sinuous pen-and-ink drawing with delicate washes of colour. His breakthrough came with Rip Van Winkle in 1905, followed by a remarkable succession of illustrated books including Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, A Midsummer Night's Dream, the fairy tales of the Brothers Grimm and Hans Christian Andersen, Wagner's Ring cycle and The Wind in the Willows. Rackham was particularly celebrated for his ability to render forests, trolls, witches, fairies and grotesque creatures with an extraordinary mixture of humour, menace and fantasy. These qualities made Ibsen's Peer Gynt especially well suited to his art. Published only three years before Rackham's death, the 1936 Peer Gynt belongs to the distinguished final phase of his career. Its twelve colour plates and extensive monochrome decoration demonstrate that his imaginative treatment of folklore and the supernatural remained undiminished.