Undine. Adapted from the German by W. L. Courtney and Illustrated by Arthur Rackham by (RACKHAM). FOUQUE, De La Motte - 1909.

London/NY: William Heinemann/Doubleday Page & Co.,, 1911. Second impression, viii, 136 pp., 15 mounted color plates with printed guards including the frontispiece, illustrations in text; original quarter cloth (hardcover), wear to spine and covers else text clean & binding tight. - If you are reading this, this item is actually (physically) in our stock and ready for shipment once ordered. We are not bookjackers. Buyer is responsible for any additional duties, taxes, or fees required by recipient's country.

London & New York: William Heinemann, & Doubleday, Page & Co., 1909. 4to. 136 pp. Illustrated title in green & black, tipped-in colour frontisp., 14 tipped-in colour plates. Quarter-green publisher’s cloth over illustrated green speckled boards, cover art on covers & spine by Rackham, illustrated endpapers by Rackham (edgewear, rubbing, minor wear & bumping to corners, minor scuffing to spine), still a VG- copy, from the library of Anne “Nita” Wilson Patton (1887-1971), sister to General George S. Patton (1885-1945). First trade edition of this tragic German tale of changelings, water-sprites, and fated love inspired by the occult works of Paracelsus, detailing how the mermaid water-sprite could gain a human soul by marrying a mortal. Motte Fouque’s story reportedly inspired Hans Christian Andersen’s “Little Mermaid.”

London, William Heinemann, 1909 1st edition. Hardback, 4to; 10 x 7.5 ins. In blue cloth covers with extensive gilt decoration to spine and decorative gilt lettering and illustrated vignette to front. Pictorial endpapers. Top edges olivine. In very good condition. Some rubbing to edges and corners. Else cloth bright. Endpapers darkened with two inscriptions, slight foxing to edge of half-title page. A couple of handling marks to front tissue guard. some light foxing spots to page edges, and some slight tanning to plate-mounts, plates all clean and bright, Page 97 has tear on fore edge. Else a very clean and tight copy. --- Beautifully illustrated by Arthur Rackham. This is the tale of a knight’s marriage to a water-sprite, and what chanced therefrom. Rackham creates a stirring progression of emotional vignettes guided continuously by exquisite grace, lyricism, and romantic expression. His figures twist and sway with beauty and allure. Although the waves and eddies of Undine bear the mark of… Read More

First London edition, printed in England. Not stated first printing but no other printings are listed. Front cover Gilding still clear on Rackham's depiction of Undine with fish swimming about her. Also clear gild design on spine. Overall, book is in very good to excellent condition except for the following: a tera - about 1/8" along the top of the spine, chipping and shelf wear along cover edges and corners, and edges of pine (see photos). Pages are in excellent condition - no rears or marks. all 15 Rackham plates are in pristine condition.

Book will be priority mailed to any U. S. address.

London: William Heinemann, 1919. First Edition, Fifth Impression. Cloth. Very good/very good. First edition of Undine by De La Motte Fouqué, with illustrations by Arthur Rackham.. Large octavo, vii, 136pp. Blue cloth, title stamped in blue with illustrations on front cover and spine. Top edge dyed blue. Illustrated endpapers. Stated "New Impressions... June 1919." on copyright page. Solid text block, light wear to edges, some foxing to endpapers. Previous ownership inscription on front free endpaper. In the publisher's dust jacket, some chipping and light wear to corners and edges of spine. Two small archival repairs to verso. Complete with fifteen full-page plates by Arthur Rackham, including frontispiece, all with captioned tissue guard. Undine, originally written in German in 1811, is the fairy tale of a water nymph who falls in love with Huldbrand, a knight exploring the forest to win the affection of a duke's daughter in town. The story was immensely popular in the nineteenth and twentieth… Read More

London: William Heinemann; Doubleday Page & Co., New York,, 1909. First trade edition, first impression, this copy handsomely bound by the leading British bookbinders Bayntun-Riviere. This publication "was still another step forward for Rackham, the unity of conception in the line drawings and the colour plates, and the assertion of contrast in the moods of the heroine, rendered it a masterpiece of sympathetic understanding" (Hudson, p. 80). The fairy tale of Undine, a water spirit who marries a human knight to acquire an immortal soul, was first published in German in 1811. Quarto (239 x 176 mm). Mid 20th-century dark blue morocco by Bayntun (Rivière), spine with raised bands, lettering and elaborate gilt decoration in compartments, double gilt fillet frame on covers, gilt design of lilies, lily pads, and fish, board edges and turn ins tooled in gilt, marbled endpapers, edges gilt. Colour frontispiece and 14 colour plates each mounted on plain paper in a grey printed frame with captioned tissue… Read More

London: William Heinemann; Doubleday Page & Co., New York,, 1909. Deluxe edition, number 168 of 1000 copies signed by Rackham. This publication "was still another step forward for Rackham, the unity of conception in the line drawings and the colour plates, and the assertion of contrast in the moods of the heroine, rendered it a masterpiece of sympathetic understanding" (Hudson, p. 80). The fairy tale of Undine, a water spirit who marries a human knight to acquire an immortal soul, was first published in German in 1811. Quarto. Mid 20th-century green half morocco, spine with raised bands, compartments lettered and framed in gilt, green cloth sides ruled in gilt, preserving original endpapers, top edge gilt, others uncut. Housed in a custom green cloth slipcase. Colour frontispiece and 14 colour plates each mounted on plain paper in a grey printed frame with captioned tissue guard, title page printed in green and black, black and white drawings in the text. Gift inscription to half-title dated 6 June… Read More

London. William Heinemann & New York. Double-day Page& Co. 1909. 1st Edition. Hardcover. 4to. 27cm, The First Edition, Limited to 1000 numbered andSigned copies, this being No. 605, Signed by Rackham, viii,136p., With15 tipped in colour plates on brown extra stock paper, with titled fullpage tissue guards, and 30 black & white text illustrations, In finesigned binding: "Bound by Bayntun (Riviere), Bath, England". In fullgreen crushed morocco, decorated raised bands, gilt floral centre paneldecoration with additional gilt decoration in the corner in gilt ruledborders, gilt titles, gilt floral decoration on the boards in single giltruled borders, gilt roll decoration on the board edges, wide giltdecorated and ruled dentelles, Cockerell marbled endpapers, all edgesgilt, spine slightly toned, stamping is bright, a fine copy in finebinding.

London: William Heinemann; Doubleday Page & Co., New York,, 1909. Rackham's stylistic masterpiece First Rackham edition, deluxe issue, number 109 of 1,000 copies signed by the illustrator. This publication "was still another step forward for Rackham, the unity of conception in the line drawings and the colour plates, and the assertion of contrast in the moods of the heroine, rendered it a masterpiece of sympathetic understanding" (Hudson, p. 80). The fairy tale of Undine, a water spirit who marries a human knight to acquire an immortal soul, was first published in German in 1811. Quarto. Original vellum, spine and front cover decorated and lettered in gilt, brown endpapers, top edge gilt, others untrimmed. Colour frontispiece and 14 colour plates each mounted on brown paper with captioned tissue guard, black and white drawings in the text, title page printed in green and black. Copy of Joanne Mott, "Undine, a Philosophical Interpretation", Pendle Hill Bulletin, no. 130, April 1956 mounted on rear… Read More

London: William Heinemann, 1909. Very good. Rackham, Arthur. One of the less common of Rackham's works and a beautiful example from the Golden Age of Illustration. It tells of a water-sprite, Undine, who can gain an immortal soul only through marriage to a mortal. The tale is ideally suited to Rackham's art nouveau style, capturing, as he does, both the tale's medieval chivalry and its roots in northern folklore. "It would seem unlikely that one of the most ethereal creatures to capture the imagination of translators and illustrators in the nineteenth-century should have been created by a Prussian officer and inspired by the writings of Paracelsus, the founder of the science of toxicology. Nevertheless, this was the pedigree of Undine, the heroine of Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué's romance of the same name, who would inspire operas, ballets and numerous adaptations. Her elusive form can be glimpsed behind Hans Christian Andersen's ‘The Little Mermaid' and Dvo ák's Rusalka, a symbol of all that… Read More