Midsummer Nights Dream by Shakespeare William, Signed (16 results)

Soft cover. Condition: Very Good. Kate Brown (illustrator). 1st Edition. UK1ST.EDITION.1ST.PRINTING.BETTER THAN VG SOFTWRAPSORIGINAL.THIS COPY IS INSCRIBED BY THE ILLUSTROR ON TH E FEP "DEAR WILLIE!-HOPE YOU ENJOY THE BOOK! LOVE KATE XX".51. Inscribed by Illustrator(s).

Soft cover. Condition: Fine. Charles Vess (illustrator). 1st Edition Thus. An uncommon edition of this book. Beautifully illustrated in color by Charles Vess with a signed illustration numbered 29 of 277. A new, unread copy. Signed by Illustrator(s).

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. First Edition Thus. Hardback. 4to. pp xii, 185. 29.5cm by 23cm. Bound in full powder blue leather by Baytun, lettered gilt at the spine with five raised bands and inner gilt dentelles. Highly attractive plates. Limited edition of 250 copies, this being no. 24. Signed by W. Heath Robinson on the limitation page. Very slight professional restoration at spine, otherwise very good indeed. Excellent condition. Signedes.

Hardcover. Condition: Good. No Jacket. Arthus Rackham (illustrator). 1st Edition. Large quarto. Pp. 134 plus [42] ff. First edition illustrated by Rackham, NUMBER 834 OF AN EDITION LIMITED TO 1,000 COPIES SIGNED BY ARTHUR RACKHAM. Contains 40 color plates, tipped-in on tan paper, 9 black & white illustrations, and 22 black & white ornaments. Bound in full vellum boards with pictorial gilt stamping and titling. Top edge gilt, and other edges untrimmed. Light spotting to vellum, and 3/4 inch separation to gutter at spine head. Gift inscription to ffep, else internally fine. Ribbon ties are intact. A beautiful book. No jacket. Signed by Illustrator(s).

Hardcover. Condition: Good. Limited Edition. London: Constable & Co., 1914, Signed Numbered Limited Edition. Signed by the illustrator, limited edition of which this is number 239. Half leather binding, gilt titles on twin labels, 5 raised gilt bands. Beautiful specimen of an Illustrated Book [ROBINSON, W. Heath, illustrator]. SHAKESPEARE, [William]. Shakespeare's Comedy of A Midsummer-Night's Dream. With Illustrations by W. Heath Robinson. 1/250 copies signed by W. Heath Robinson (this copy being number 239). Twelve mounted colour plates, forty-six full-page and seventeen smaller black and white drawings. Collated and complete. Plate at page 32 bound in at page 1. Black and white illustrations included in the pagination (front and blank reverse), colour plates not part of the pagination. xii, [iv], 185pp. Approximately 12 inches tall. Condition Report Externally Spine good condition gilt titles on two labels, 5 raised gilt bands, 6 compartments. Joints good condition sound. Corners good condition. Boards good condition half leather and marbled boards. Page edges good condition top edge bright orange, fore ad bottom edges lightly tanned and uncut. See above and photos. Internally Hinges good condition intact. Paste downs good condition plain green. End papers good condition plain green. Title good condition illustrated title page, lightly tanned. Pages good condition Signed Limited Edition, limitation page prior to the frontispiece, coloured frontispiece, numerous coloured and b/w illustrations throughout, lightly tanned. Binding good condition. See photos Publisher: see above. Publication Date: 1914 Binding: Hardba. Inscribed by Author(s).

Hardcover. Limited Edition: #857/1000. Quarto, 134 pages. In Very Good condition. Bound in publisher's gold-pictorial full vellum. Mild rubbing and wear to vellum. Top edge gilt with others untrimmed. Yellow silk ties. Limited to 1000 numbered copies for sale in Great Britain and Ireland; this is copy #857 signed by Rackham. With forty color plates mounted on heavy brown paper with lettered tissue guards and thirty drawings in black and white. Riall page 87. Shelved in Case 14. 1318725. Shelved Dupont Bookstore.

11.25 x 9 inches. Full red crushed moroccor by J. May. Spine in six compartments titled in gilt and with remaining compartments stamped with corner and central devices surrounded by a gilt rule, boards with double rectangular panel design and corner devices. One half inch split to upper front joint, faint wear, still a fine copy. First Rackham edition, limited issue. One of 1000 copies, signed by Arthur Rackham.

134 [1] pp. Illustrated with tipped-in color plates by Arthur Rackham; with printed tissue overleaves; additional illustrations in black and white. Folio, publisher's gilt vellum, t.e.g. (original ribbon ties lacking). First edition; No. 460 of 1,000 copies signed by Arthur Rackham. A few letters of the gold lettering on the spine slightly rubbed; a few minor spots to the vellum; a few spots of foxing to the tissue overleaves; but a fresh, unworn, attractive copy.

Signed limited edition, number 29 of 250 copies signed by the artist. The Athenaeum included the book as being "books published this week" on 24 October 1914, and it was issued in both a trade and a remarkably small signed limited edition. The Saturday Review of Politics, Literature, Science and Art reviewed the volume in December 1914 and stated "the book. is an obvious prize for anyone who desires Shakespeare decorated and defined. Messrs. Constable, in format, printing, and binding, have, as usual, given to their work high quality and care". Alan Horne notes that "perhaps Robinson's best work was done for the 1913 Andersen, for A Midsummer Night's Dream and for two books for children which he wrote as well as illustrated - The Adventures of Uncle Lubin (1902) and Bill the Minder (1912)" (p. 373). Heath Robinson would later develop his individual style and draw ridiculous contraptions, thereby giving his name as a noun to the English language. The Athenaeum, 24 October 1914, p. 428; Saturday Review of Politics, Literature, Science and Art, 19 December 1914, p. 635; Alan Horne, The Dictionary of 20th Century British Book Illustrators, 1994. Quarto. Original parchment boards, spine and front cover lettered and with designs in gilt, top edge gilt. Colour frontispiece and 11 colour plates, with captioned tissue guards, black and white illustrations in the text, all by Robinson. Bookseller's label to rear pastedown. Extremities a little bumped, consistent soiling to rear cover, browning to endpapers: a very good copy.

Hardcover. Condition: Near Fine. No Jacket. Limited Edition. Beautiful edition of A Midsummer Night's Dream, First Limited Signed Edition of 194 with charming watercolours and ink drawings by William Heath Robinson, created at the height of the Art Nouveau movement, in 1914, exceedingly rare as only 250 copies, signed by the illustrator, were issued by Constable & Co., in London. Beautiful copy in a recent magnificent parchment binding with gilt ties, the design after William Heath Robinson on cover and spine, lithograph plates under titled guards, text on handmade heavy English paper, superbly illustrated, large oversized deluxe paper quarto, TEG, deckled. Additional images upon request. A beautiful copy of this very famous and rare illustrated edition of Midsummer Night's Dream. Signed by Illustrator(s).

"An Almost Perfect Setting for Rackham's Devic Imagination" Edition de Luxe Signed by Arthur Rackham [RACKHAM, Arthur, illustrator]. SHAKESPEARE, William. A Midsummer-Night's Dream. With Illustrations by Arthur Rackham. London: William Heinemann, 1908. Edition de Luxe, limited to 1,000 numbered copies signed by the artist, this being copy No. 926. Large quarto (11 1/2 x 9 1/16 inches; 292 x 231 mm.). [6], 134, [1, blank], [1, printer's slug] pp. Forty color plates mounted on brown art paper, with descriptive tissue guards. Original vellum over boards pictorially stamped and lettered in gilt. Top edge gilt, others untrimmed. Later silk ties. Bookplate of Agnes Marion Armitage. A bit of mild toning to vellum at edges. Spine a little 'mottled'. Still an excellent copy. "Within twelve months appeared Shakespeare's A Midsummer-Night's Dream, De la Motte Fouqué's Undine, and the Grimm brothers' Fairy Tales, all very different in quality and feeling, as demanded by the texts, but all of extremely high quality. The Dream was, of course, an almost perfect setting for Rackham's devic imagination -- perhaps only bettered by the opportunity of The Tempest -- with the result that some of the fairies, elves and goblins he created for this play are among his finest colour images, and almost all the plates echo perfectly the mysterious interweaving of lightness and depth in this great work. Many of the formal plates are exquisite, whether they depict the principal events of the main theme of the story, such as the translated Bottom with his ass-head mocked by tree sprites, or the night-rule of Titania's haunted grove, those incidents within the subsidiary action, with details hardly dreamed of by Shakespeare, such as the gnomish knife-grinder in a motley group of fairies. Some of the floriated headings for the Dream are the finest of Rackham's line at the time, as for example the heading vignette for Act One, Scene One, which with typical Rackham irrelevance spreads its tendrils over the page, and into the text, ignoring the fact that the setting is supposed, according to Shakespeare, to be the Palace of Theseus, and throwing us immediately into a tangle-wood Rackhamerie, with mice, pixies and a sleeping maiden." (Fred Gettings. Arthur Rackham, pp. 117-123). Latimore and Haskell, p. 32. Gettings, p. 177. Riall, p. 87.

Signed limited edition, number 438 of 1,000 copies signed by the illustrator Arthur Rackham, for sale in Great Britain and Ireland. In A Midsummer Night's Dream Rackham "developed his gift for drawing witches, gnomes, fairies, and anthropomorphized trees and brought them to a pitch of vivid characterization, sometimes with an unsettling frisson of horror" (ODNB). Latimore & Haskell, p. 32; Riall, p. 87. Quarto (273 x 221 mm). Mid-20th-century blue morocco by Bayntun-Riviere, spine lettered in gilt, compartments and covers panelled in gilt, gilt turn-ins, marbled endpapers, gilt edges. Colour frontispiece and 39 colour plates with captioned tissue-guards mounted on heavy brown paper, black and white illustrations in the text, all by Rackham; title page printed in olive-green & black. Light spotting on occasion to contents; still a fine copy in a handsome binding.

Hardcover. Condition: Fine. 1st Edition. An Amazingly Intricate, Elaborate, & Lovely 16th/21st Century Leporello - A Midsummer Night's Dream Graphic-Novel Oblong 24mo (16.3 x 13.7 x 5cm (approx. 6.5 x 5.5 x 2") [unopened] approx. 240 x 16.3 x 13.7 (94.5 x 6.5 x 5.5") [fully opened]. [32] ff; color illus.; plus a volume of 12 unnumbered pages. As new at issue, as described above; volume with paper obi strip (i.e., "belly band") stamped in black and housed in blue cloth box, stamped in silver. Book and certificate of authenticity signed and dated by the artist. WorldCat finds three copies in the US: University of Pennsylvania Libraries, the Folger Library, and the University of Chicago Library; one copy in the National Library of Scotland. Created in an edition of only seven copies to mark the 400th anniversary of Shakespeare's death, A KNAVISH LAD is "[a] wordless visual retelling of A Midsummer Night's Dream using a combination of old and new technologies: intaglio printmaking and laser cutting. The result is a panoramic piece of book art that visually narrates the story and draws inspiration from the imagery of the text" (all quotations, and a few of the illustrations, are from the artist's website). The presentation, which extends to nearly eight feet (240 cm) when fully opened, is bound between padded, dark brown cloth-covered boards with endpapers of embossed Fabriano Rosapina Avorio paper (285gsm). Included are the author's booklet recounting the work's origin and creation, along with a certificate of authenticity (this is copy #5 of the seven). Two intersecting accordion-folded sheets form sixteen vignettes of scenes from the play," one set of panels being of black laser cut plike paper (330gsm) and the other on Hahnemuhle paper (300gsm), carrying aquatinted etchings, with laser cut-outs. The interplay of the two elements lends both actual depth and a sense of mystery discovered, to the scenes. The refinement of the etching's drawing, and of the cutting, are extraordinary, and the colors are deep and rich, especially in the green, blue, and brown ranges. Robson writes of herself, "I am a freelance illustrator and artist, with a special interest in artists' books." She "studied Modern History at the University of St Andrews before going on to complete a MA in Authorial Illustration at University College Falmouth," where she began making book art. "Since graduating I have continued to create artists' books, as I find them one of the most versatile mediums in which to tell stories." A KNAVISH LAD was completed with the aid of a grant by the Hope Scott Trust. For further information on this edition, the artist, and additional photos please contact us. . OCLC: 960739986. Signed by Author(s).

Hardcover. Condition: Near Fine. 1st Edition. First Edition. A sharp copy of this limited edition of 1000 copies SIGNED by Arthur Rackham. The book is in nice shape. The binding is tight, and the boards are crisp with light wear to the spine and edges. The pages are clean with no writing, marks or bookplates in the book. Overall, a lovely copy SIGNED by Rackham in collector's condition. We buy First Editions of Children's books. Signed by Author(s).

First edition. Edition de Luxe, No. 993 of 1000 copies signed by Rackham. Large 4to. Publisher's full white vellum with gilt lettering and design. Top edge gilt and others untrimmed. Original silk ties (rear detatched, front holding on by a thread). Housed in original card slipcase. A fine copy, with exceptionally clean vellum and bright gilt, with only a hint of dustiness to the spine. Housed in publisher's slipcase, which has been repaired at the joints and lacks a small portion from the upper edge, but has had the effect of preserving the condition of the book. Forty colour plates, mounted onto brown art paper and protected by tissue guards, and many delicate line drawings. This is one of Rackham's most sought after books, the weaving of magic and fairies being perfectly suited to his style. The limited edition is seldom encountered in such sparkling condition.

Published within Rackham's edition of A Midsummer Night's Dream in 1908. The watercolour depicts Puck leading Lysander away from Demetrius in Act 3, scene 2. The piece appears opposite page 86 and is one of the 40 colour plates. The board has the title added in the artist's hand, together with identification of the book and the artist's signature. This powerful illustration shows Rackham's thorough knowledge of the text of the play. Although simply entitled "Up and down, up and down", Rackham adds the "damned spirits all" to his composition and therefore depicts a passage from Puck's previous speech. In his biography of the artist, James Hamilton notes that Rackham's "interpretations of A Midsummer Night's Dream and The Wind in the Willows. have become definitive, and continue to challenge later illustrators to find new approaches". Writing about "Rackham's Best Book Illustrations", Fred Gettings states that in the artist's illustrations for A Midsummer Night's Dream "he created. among his finest colour images and almost all the plates echo perfectly the mysterious interweaving of lightness and depth in this great work. Many of the formal plates are exquisite." Exhibited: Leicester Galleries, London, October - November 1908, item 19; Santa Barbara Museum of Art, 5 January - 17 February 1974, item 23. Original drawing (265 x 183 mm) on card, laid down on board, fine ink and watercolour, signed and dated ("Arthur Rackham 08") lower right, inscribed with title and additionally signed below mount, mounted, framed, and glazed (framed size: 480 x 372 mm). Fine and unfaded.