Description

WITH LOVELY ORIGINAL WATERCOLOR ILLUSTRATION OF A FAIRY BY DULAC: SIGNED LIMITED FIRST EDITION OF A FAIRY GARLAND, ONE OF 1000 COPIES SIGNED BY THE ILLUSTRATOR

DULAC, Edmund. A Fairy Garland Being Fairy Tales from the Old French. London and New York: Cassell and Charles Scribner’s Sons, (1928). Quarto, original half vellum gilt, top edge gilt, uncut. 

Signed limited first edition, number 766 of only 1000 copies signed by Dulac, wonderfully illustrated with 12 full-page color plates by him, with a watercolor of a fairy and additionally signed by him and dated in the year of publication on the half title.

Dulac was “one of the central illustrators of the Edwardian period, a time when fantasy illustration reached a peak of sophistication… Though Dulac shared [contemporary illustrator Arthur] Rackham’s exuberant capacity to create intricately peopled fantasy landscapes, his work was more painterly, and he had an unmatched knowledge of how to use book-production technology to gain expressive color effects” (Clute & Grant, 300). In this volume, Dulac illustrates, in a dozen beautiful color plates, eight fairy tales by Charles Perrault (including Puss in Boots), Mme. d’Aulnoy, and Count Anthony Hamilton. Hughey 74.

Light scattered foxing to preliminary leaves; light soiling to vellum spine. An about-fine copy, most rare with a watercolor by Dulac.