Wilde Oscar

1920 · réf. 19986 — London and New York: John Lane The Bodley Head. Printed by Spottiswoods Ballantyne and Co. Ltd. London Colchester and Eton 1920. Limited Edition First Edition Thus with Alastair illustrations. Decorated Cloth Gilt impressed. Very Good Plus. Alistair Hans Henning Otto Harry Baron von Voigt. Limitation of 1000 copies -- the colophon informs us that the stones upon which the plates were printed were destroyed by the German invasion of Belgium during the early phase of the First World War. 4to. 30.5 by 23.5 cm. 36 pp. 12 illustrated two toned plates with Alastair illustrations. 10 of these are referenced in the List of Illustrations and the other two are at the beginning and the end. These two are also on a folded sheet that is about 2 cm shorter as well as about the same shy of the width of facing pages elsewhere. Alastair 1887-1969 was a German-born self-taught artist whose style was obviously greatly influenced by Beardsley and he emulated Beardsley too in illustrating works of Oscar Wilde who was the perfect template for Alastair's imagination which gloried in decadence as Wilde did decades earlier. This work "The Sphinx" was Alastair's first published work based on Wilde's writing and it is the work that exposed a far larger audience to his distinctive highly stylized artwork. The cloth cover designed by Charles Ricketts has a light film of dusty soiling which is removable with effort and a scattering of other small light stains which are not susceptible to the simple eraser. The interior is generally quite clean and lovely. The hinge is cracked in one place. John Lane, The Bodley Head. Printed by Spottiswoods, Ballantyne and Co. Ltd., London, Colchester and Eton unknown books