One of only 350 copies produced, individually numbered and signed by Edmund Dulac, preserved in exceptional condition with its elaborate gilt binding and complete suite of mounted colour plates.
DULAC, Edmund. Edmund Dulac’s Fairy-Book: Fairy Tales of the Allied Nations.
Hodder & Stoughton, London, 1916.
First edition, first impression. Limited edition, number 67 of 350 copies, signed by Edmund Dulac on the limitation page.
Quarto. Original white cloth elaborately decorated across the upper board and spine in gilt, silver and black, with prancing horses, stars and scrolling ornament; decorative title page; untrimmed page edges; 169 pages. Illustrated with a colour frontispiece and fourteen further colour plates by Dulac, each mounted upon a gilt-bordered page with a printed caption beneath.
Published during the First World War, the collection gathers fairy tales from the Allied nations, including stories from Russia, France, Belgium, Serbia, Italy, Ireland, England and Japan. Dulac’s illustrations range from the snowy landscape of Snegorotchka and the elaborate architecture of Ivan and the Chestnut Horse to the darker theatrical compositions accompanying The Blue Bird and Bashtchelik.
The exceptionally restricted limitation makes this among the scarcer signed editions illustrated by Dulac. Each of the 350 copies was signed by the artist, compared with the substantially larger limitations used for several of his other major gift books.
An exceptional copy. The highly vulnerable white cloth remains unusually clean, while the gilt and silver decoration is remarkably bright and complete. Internally clean, with vivid plates, sound mounting and only light age-related marking to the endpapers.
