London: George G. Harrap & Co., Ltd., 1936. First edition thus, Publishers Special Morocco Binding. Quarto (9 3/4 x 7 1/4 in; 248 x 183 mm). Collating 255, [1]. Publisher's full dark green morocco with gilt fillets and gilt-stamped design and lettering. Top edge gilt, others trimmed. Early ink signature on verso of front endpaper. Twelve color plates with captioned tissue guards and numerous black and white text drawings as head- and tailpieces, and devices. Housed in a later blue cloth slipcase. A Near Fine copy.

Although inspired by the folk legend and by Peter Christen Asbjornsen's fairy tales, the playwright Henrik Ibsen believed some of the story to be based on true events. He also based some of the characters on his own family members, including his parents, thus imbuing then with a sense of an authenticity. Ibsen, who was interested din promoting Norwegian culture, first wrote Peer Gynt in verse while traveling in Italy. Although did not originally intend it to be a theatrical production, it has gone on to be an essential part of his oeuvre (Encyclopedia). First published in 1867, this deluxe edition of Ibsen's five-act play is a perfect merging of Rackham’s illustrate style with Ibsen’s folk-adventure narrative. "In the troll scenes, or in Peer's moorland encounter with the threadballs, Rackhamerie abounds..." (Gettings).

Arthur Rackham (1867-1939) is perhaps the most acclaimed and influential illustrators of the Golden Age of Illustration. A prolific artist even from his youth, Rackham got his start as an illustrator working for the Westminster Budget Newspaper (1892). Over the next few years, he took on more and more commissions for children’s books, hitting his career high in the first three decades of the twentieth century. Rackham turned his imaginative pen to every classic—from Shakespeare to Dickens to Poe.

Gettings 181. Hudson 182. Latimore and Haskell 74. Riall 192. (Item #3727)