UNDINE: A TALE ... Translated from the German with a Critical Introduction by Edmund Gosse and Illustrations by W. F. E. Britten. New York: Frederick A. Stokes Company Publishers, n.d. [1896?]. Octavo, pp. [i-v] vi-vi [viii] [1] 2-189 [190: printer's imprint] [191-192: blank], ten inserted plates with illustrations by W. E. F. Britten, original bevel-edged blue gray cloth, front and spine panels stamped in gold, t.e.g., other edges untrimmed. First edition of this translation, first printing. Bibliographically, a tricky book. This is an American issue of Lawrence & Bullen's 1896 London edition and has the Richard Clay and Sons printer's imprint on the recto of the title leaf and on page [190]. According to The American Catalogue, this Stokes issue was listed in PW in 1895. Later printings have more pages and fewer illustrations. Gosse's translation, first published in 1896, is one of the preferred translations of UNDINE (1811). Fouque is best known for his fairy romance UNDINE; George MacDonald maintained that if he were asked what a fairy tale was he would reply: "Read UNDINE." Both editions of the Gosse translation are uncommon. The striking, almost surreal illustrations are by William Edward Frank Britten (1848-1916) who "was not a prolific illustrator, but an eclectic one, his designs ranging from Victorian classicism to smoky Pre-Raphaelite chalk drawings." - Houfe, The Dictionary of British Book Illustrators and Caricaturists 1800-1914, p. 244. Barron (ed), Fantasy Literature 1-22 and 2-59. Bleiler, The Guide to Supernatural Fiction 653. Clute and Grant (eds), The Encyclopedia of Fantasy, p. 364. Sullivan (ed), The Penguin Encyclopedia of Horror and the Supernatural, pp. 155-6. Survey of Modern Fantasy Literature IV, pp. 1992-4. Tymn (ed), Fantasy Literature, pp. 105-6. In 333. Bleiler (1978), p. 118. Reginald 08565. See Bloch (2002) 1011. See Morgan 1804 (not noting this American issue). Spine ends and corner tips rubbed, some rubbing along lower edges, two small scratches to rear cover, a very good copy. (#161934).
Price: $250.00
No statement of printing.