Faustus by GOETHE, Johann Wolfgang von - 1821

The First English Edition, Translated by Coleridge. With Rare, Separately Issued Engraved Plates GOETHE, Johann Wolfgang von. [COLERIDGE, Samuel Taylor, translator]. Faustus. From The German of Goethe London: Boosey and Sons, 1821. First English edition, [translated by Coleridge ?]. Octavo (8 3/4 x 5 5/8 inches, 225 x 140 mm). [viii], 86, [1, list of plates], [1, errata] pp. With half-title and frontispiece portrait of Goethe. Uncut in original drab olive green boards. Professionally rebacked using original spine. Original paper spine label, printed in black. Boards rubbed. Corners bumped and extremities of the spine chipped and bumped. Outer hinges cracked but firm. Some light foxing to endpapers, but very clean throughout. Overall a very good copy. [Together with] RETSCH, Moritz. [MOSES, Henry, illustrator]. Retsch's Series of Twenty-Six Outlines illustrative of Goethe's Tragedy of Faust, Engraved from the Originals by Henry Moses. And an Analysis of the Tragedy. London: Printed for Boosey and Sons, 1820 First edition. Quarto (10 7/8 x 8 7/8 inches; 278 x 227 mm). [2], [1, list of plates], [1, blank], 60 [errata on pg 60 with final text], pp.. Illustrated with twenty-six engraved plates including frontispiece by Henry Moses. Uncut in quarter paper over original drab brown boards. Paper label on front board, label lettered in black. Professionally rebacked to style. Corners and edges of boards slightly bumped and chipped. Boards a bit rubbed. Some light foxing throughout, but mostly very clean. A very good, rare copy. Both volumes house together in a red morocco clamshell. The 1820 Retsch edition is an outline of Goethe's Faustus which includes twenty-six engraved plates by Henry Moses. These plates were first published the year before the 1821 first English edition of the book and issued separately. The list of plates at the end of the 1821 text correlates with the plates issued in 1820, and the two, because they were issued separately, are rarely found together. Although not stated in the book, it recently has become widely accepted that Coleridge was the translator of this first English edition. A book published in 2007 entitled "Faustus: From the German of Goethe Translated by Samuel Taylor Coleridge" and edited by Coleridge scholars Frederick Burwick and James C. McKusick establishes Coleridge as the translator of Goethe's Faust. The recent discovery of Coleridge's translation of Faustus is considered "A major literary discovery will heat the blood of 19th century Romantic scholars around the world and profoundly change the course of Romantic literature." (Betsy Cohen, Rare Book Review, January 2007) HBS 64888. $8,500