Peer Gynt by RACKHAM, Arthur, illustrator; IBSEN, Henrik

Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Co., 1936. Rare Publisher's Sample Preceding The First Edition [RACKHAM, Arthur, illustrator]. IBSEN, Henrik. Peer Gynt. A Dramatic Poem by Henrik Ibsen. Illustrated by Arthur Rackham. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott Co. [1936]. Publisher's salesman's sample copy (preceding the first edition). Large octavo (9 13/16 x 7 7/16 inches; 249 x 189 mm.). 30 pp. Title-page printed in green and black. Two full-page color plates with descriptive tissue guards and two half-page black and white illustrations. Original gilt decorated brown cloth. Original pictorial endpapers. Original printed color pictorial dust jacket (with "Harrap" on the spine) with a neatly repaired tear on front near spine. A fine copy in a near fine dust jacket. A great rarity. These were obviously produced in minimal quantity for the publisher's salesmen to solicit advance orders from bookshops. The 'list' of illustrations leaf states "[There will be Twelve Plates in Colour]" The vignettes on the half-title and title-page in the published edition are printed in a much lighter and brighter green. The list of books Illustrated by Arthur Rackham on the verso of the half-title is very different from the published edition. The two color plates are: "Peer and the Woman in Green" [in the published edition this plate faces p. 66 and is titled "Peer follows the Woman in Green"] and "Anitra's Dance" [in the published edition this plate faces p. 148]. Although this sample has the Lippincott imprint, the verso of the title-page says "Printed in Great Britain". "In over fifty years of specializing in the illustrated works of Arthur Rackham I have never seen another one of these." DJB. Not mentioned by Riall.