296 x 232 mm. (11 3/4 x 9 1/4"). The four works, complete, in two volumes. Translated into English by Margaret Armour. Original stiff vellum, upper covers with gilt lettering and pictorial design, flat spines with gilt lettering, covers with slits for two silk ties (missing). With black and white title page vignette, headpieces, tailpieces, and 68 color plates by Rackham, the plates on brown paper mounts and with lettered tissue guards. Front flyleaves with contemporary ink inscription. Latimore and Haskell, pp. 37-38. Gettings, "Arthur Rackham" (1975), pp. 130-31. âVellum lightly soiled, two not especially obvious scratches to cover of first volume, pages adjacent to plates with light overall browning from contact with acidic mounts, isolated minor foxing, otherwise a very agreeable set, with the plates as bright and fresh as they should be, and with the hinges entirely (and atypically) undamaged. This handsome set features what Gettings considers "Rackham's personal style taken to its highest point of expressive delicacy." Being particularly adept, in Houfe's words, at illustrating "mystical, magic, or legendary" tales, Rackham here provides the perfect complement to Wagner's retelling of Norse mythology. The Nibelung dwarves are grotesque, the Rhine maidens beautiful and ethereal, the giants frightening, and the gods majestic--what could be better material for our illustrator? Arthur Rackham (1867-1939) studied art at Lambeth School, where the work of his fellow student Charles Ricketts influenced his development. As Houfe says, soon after Rackham joined the staff of "The Westminster Budget" in 1892, he began concentrating "on the illustration of books and . . . very soon established himself as one of the foremost Edwardian illustrators[, being] triumphant in the early 1900s when color printing first enabled him to use subtle tints and muted tones to represent age and timelessness. Rackham's imaginative eye saw all forms with the eyes of childhood and created a world that was half reassuring and half frightening." "The Rhinegold" sets the stage for Wagner's Ring Cycle, telling of the beginnings of the magic but cursed ring crafted from the gold of the Rhine. Here the ring is used by Wotan, king of the gods, to ransom the goddess Freia from the giants who have taken her hostage. "The Valkyrie" introduces Wotan's daughter, Brunnhilde, one of the Valkyrie maidens who escort dead warriors to Valhalla, and the hero Siegfried, whose journey will be covered in the subsequent works, "Siegfried" and "Twilight of the Gods.". No. 925 of 1,150 Copies, SIGNED by Rackham.
