BEAUTIFUL EDITION DE LUXE
Aladdin and His Wonderful Lamp in Rhyme
Nisbet, 1920.
First edition, Edition de Luxe in large format, printed on beautiful handmade paper. Number 213 of only 250 copies, numbered and signed by the artist. American issue with Brentano on the spine (though printed and bound in the UK with the rest of the limitation). Large quarto, 335mm x 265mm. Full white buckram with gilt embossed lettering and illustration. Top edge is gilt and others are untrimmed. From endpaper to endpaper each page is decorated with black and white drawings, in a striking art nouveau style. There are twelve colour plates mounted beneath captioned tissue guards, all are in perfect condition. The plates are vibrant and striking. A near fine copy, previous owner's name to the front blank.
This book is a wonderful collaboration of Ransome, telling the story of Aladdin and His Lamp in rhyme, and beautiful decorations by Yorkshire artist, Thomas Mackenzie. In a letter in late 1919 Mackenzie laments problems with the production of this Edition-de-Luxe saying that the sheets were not dry enough to be bound up, because of "the continuous damp weather and the hand made paper it is printed on". As a result the Deluxe edition did not go on sale until sometime in 1920 (the book was aimed at the Christmas gift market of 1919). The artist also comments "there are mistakes in it due to inexperience and immaturity which I hope you will close your eyes to."
Stock ID: 39243
£2,750.00
