Faust, A Tragedy: In a Modern Translation By Alice Raphael

Limited Editions Club release. 1932 latest date at copyright. Later edition; unstated. Richly bound in taupe linen boards exhibiting sharp sheen, gilt stamped cover and spine titles, fine. Leaves of finest paper imported from England, Basingwerk Parchment, more beautiful and permanent than any other. Illustrated by the greatest European Romantic artist, Eugene Delacroix with eighteen painstakingly reproduced lithographs using the collotype method. Frontispiece illustrated bust of Goethe with his signature. Preserved in a light grey slipcase and still possessing the original glassine wrapper. Wrapper separated at spine area, other wise fine. Bind fine, square; hinges fully intact. Includes original Heritage Press literary supplement laying bare the effort and diligence put forth producing this finely crafted, richly beautiful volume and the history of Goethe and Delecroix's amicable, respectful as artists, relation during their lifetimes. Goethe gave high praise to these illustrations during his lifetime, saying they opened new insights into his very own masterwork. The eighteen lithographs are accepted as perfect pictures, enlivening and supplementing Faust's text and stimulating the imagination and intelllect. Considered one of the greatest illustrated books ever. This book utilizes a set of pulls of the original Delacroix lithographs, in the first state of their first edition commissioned to Arthur Jaffe by the New York Public Library. Goethe’s masterpiece and perhaps the greatest work in German literature, Faust has made the legendary German alchemist one of the central myths of the Western world. Faust, an audacious man, boldly wagering with the devil, Mephistopheles, that no magic, sensuality, experience, or knowledge can lead him to a moment he would wish to last forever. Here, in Faust, Part I, the tremendous versatility of Goethe’s genius creates some of the most beautiful passages in literature. Here too we experience Goethe’s characteristic humor, the excitement and eroticism of the witches’ Walpurgis Night, and the moving emotion of Gretchen’s tragic fate. 183 pages with xiv introductory pages. Insured post. Size: 4to - over 9¾" - 12" tall.…