1910 The Rhinegold & The Valkyrie

Description

Colour Plates, First Edition, Illustrated, Publishers' Original Binding

The first edition, second impression, published only the month after the first impression. 

Illustrated with a tipped-in colour frontispiece, and thirty-three tipped-in colour plates.

Collated, complete.

The first two of Richard Wagner's four epic music dramas, the series being titled 'Der Ring des Nibelungen', or 'The Ring of the Nibelung', or simply the 'Ring Cycle'.

These dramas are loosely based on characters from Norse mythology and the Nibelungenlied, revolving around a magical ring, that grants the wearer the power to rule the world. It is said that the ring was forged by the Nibelung dwarf Alberich from gold that he stole from the River Rhine's maidens.

Illustrated by Arthur Rackham. Rackham was a book illustrator who illustrated editions of 'The Ingoldsby Legends', 'The Wind in the Willows', 'Grimm's Fairy Tales', and 'Gulliver's Travels', as well as contributing frequently to periodicals. He is considered to be one of the leaders of the 'Golden Age' of book illustrations.

Translated from German to English by Margaret Armour, a Scottish translator, poet, and novelist. She also translated worked by Gustav Legerlotz and Heinrich Heine.