SIGNED LIMITED FIRST EDITION IN FRENCH OF L’ILE ENCHANTEÉ, ONE OF ONLY 300 COPIES SIGNED BY EDMUND DULAC, WITH 40 EXQUISITE ILLUSTRATED PLATES

DULAC, Edmund. L’Ile Enchanteé. Conte d’Après Shakespeare. Paris: H. Piazza, [1908]. Quarto, original printed parchment wrappers, original glassine, original acetate. $950.

Signed limited first edition in French of this adaptation of The Tempest, number 260 of only 300 copies signed by illustrator Edmund Dulac, with 40 beautiful mounted illustrated plates.

“Dulac was one of the central illustrators of the Edwardian period, a time when fantasy illustration reached a peak of sophistication” (Clute & Grant, 300). “Dulac’s edition of The Tempest was published in November 1908, simultaneously with Rackham’s edition of Shakespeare’s other classic comedy, A Midsummer Night’s Dream. He created a Rackham-like world on Prospero’s island, inhabited by elves, goblins, and a benevolent Caliban. Outstanding among these watercolors was the one entitled ‘We are such stuff as dreams are made on,’ showing the creation of the universe from primeval chaos… Dulac remained true to the medium of watercolor, and the critics were unanimous in their praise. He was recognized as an illustrator of first rank, a master of the fantastic and exotic, and ‘a dreamer of extraordinary dreams” (Dalby, 82-83). The first edition was published the same year in London.

Plates bright and fine, scattered foxing and soiling to text, only light wear to extremities of original wrappers, glassine, and acetate. A handsome signed copy in exceptionally good condition.