London: George G. Harrap & Co, 1936. First thus. Edition deluxe, number 286 of 460 copies signed by the artist. A Fine copy. Quarto. Twelve color plates with captioned tissue guards and numerous black and white text drawings as head and tailpieces, and devices. Publisher's vellum boards gilt lettered and ornamented, with gilt vignette. Top edge gilt, others untrimmed, partially uncut. Housed in the original publishers cardboard slipcase with matching limitation number.

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 them with a sense of authenticity. Ibsen, who was interested in promoting Norwegian culture, first wrote Peer Gynt in verse while traveling in Italy. Although he 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 illustration 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 illustrator 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, p. 181. Hudson, p. 182. Riall, p. 192. Fine (Item #6372)