Siegfried & the Twilight of the Gods
London / New York: William Heinemann / Doubleday Page & Co., 1911. Thirty full color, tipped-on illustrations, including frontispiece, by Arthur Rackham with all tissue guards present. First edition, first printing. Publisher's quarter green cloth over cream decorative paper, illustratively stamped in gilt, illustrated endpapers. Octavo. ix, [i], 181, [3]. 10" x 7.5" Very mild shelf wear with small spots of wear to corners, light toning to front board, still near fine. Overall a tight and internally clean copy. Item #240162
RACKHAM-ILLUSTRATED OPERA
Two greats came together as Arthur Rackham illustrated the text of Wagner's operatic masterpiece, The Ring of the Niblung, first performed in 1876. Published as part of a two volume series, Siegfried & the Twilight of the Gods contains the second and third days of the trilogy, featuring the great work's climax. Seigfried's Valkyrie love, Brünnhilde, reclaims the ring from the gods, returning it home to the Rhine maidens, and throws herself on her lover's funeral pyre, bringing about the god's and Valhalla's theatrical downfall. Rackham captures the majesty of Wagner's Norse and Germanic influences, casting the opera in dark, roiling backgrounds and dainty, dramatic faces.
This 1911 first edition includes thirty tipped-on illustrations, including frontispiece, with all tissue guards present. This copy has had an ad for Leicester Galleries' 1910 Arthur Rackham Exhibition laid in the front.
Price: $450.00