Gravure print

1826 · ABE-9078502109 — 1826 Faust was Goethe's most celebrated creation with international editions in his lifetime and subsequently in films and books across the world with translations in most languages. This is a complete set of the 26 engravings Moritz Retzsh produced as an illustration of Goethe's text; the book has no words in it not even a publisher or date. What it does have is a fabulous set of the original plate pulls complete with plate marks. Friedrich August Moritz Retzsch was a German painter draughtsman and etcher; much celebrated in his day. This is in a way a fine example of what would now called a graphic novel. The 26 etched pictures tell the story and words are not needed. In Germany there were many such books without words and this one in particular influenced the English Pre Raphaelites. This volume is in its original binding with a very fragile leather spine which turns around to the original marbled cover boards which are also in a fragile state. There is no title page or date and no publishing house is mentioned. The corners are leather also and the spine has five subtly raised bands and no title. A much poorer copy of this was featured in the exhibition of Pre Raphaelites at Tate Britain. My copy is considerably better but it is by no means a fine one. It has been used and looked at probably a great deal over the last 200 years or so. The leather is very worn the marbled cover boards are patinated and there is a mixture of hand written names and an inscription on the front end paper. It is very rare in any state at all because it was easily broken up so the plates could be framed. This is I must stress a complete bound full set and as such it is very rare indeed. The earlier of the two dated inscriptions states 1826; but it cannot be viewed as an accurate issue date. An edition exists which has a German title page and text but this is not one of those. It's a bit of a mystery. The exhibited copy in the Tate exhibition was inspected by me I knew one of the curators and it was also without any text. International Edition. Hardcover. Very Good. hardcover