1912 Signed Limited Edition Edmund Dulac - The Bells by Edgar Allan Poe
Author: Edgar Allan Poe. Illustrated by Edmund Dulac.
Title: The Bells and Other Poems.
Publisher: London, New York & Toronto, Hodder and Stoughton, 1912. Limited signed edition. Copy No. 46 of 750 copies signed by Edmund Dulac.
Language: Text in English.
Size: 12.5 x 10 inches.
Pages: Unpaginated.
Binding: Publisher’s full vellum paper binding elaborately decorated and titled in gilt. Upper edge gilt. Very good to near fine binding with gentle natural mellowing to the vellum. Original silk ties lacking, as is very commonly encountered with this large and delicate production.
Content: Very good to near fine content. Internally remarkably clean and bright with only light occasional signs of age. A handsome and well-preserved example of one of Dulac’s most celebrated deluxe gift books. Signed limitation leaf present and complete.
Illustrations: Complete with all 28 mounted colour plates by Edmund Dulac, each with its original captioned tissue guard. Also illustrated with decorative two-colour headpieces throughout the text.
Estimate: (USD $950–2,000).
The book: One of the great illustrated gift books of the Golden Age of Illustration, The Bells and Other Poems brings together some of the most haunting and lyrical works of Edgar Allan Poe, including The Raven, Annabel Lee, Lenore, Ulalume, and A Dream Within a Dream. Edmund Dulac’s interpretation of Poe’s dreamlike and melancholic universe is among the artist’s darkest and most atmospheric achievements, filled with shadowed architecture, spectral figures, moonlit landscapes, and jewel-like colour harmonies.
Issued in a limited edition of only 750 signed copies, this monumental production was printed on large paper and lavishly illustrated with mounted colour plates protected by captioned tissue guards. Surviving examples in such bright and attractive condition are increasingly difficult to locate, particularly with all plates present and the signed limitation intact.
The author: Edgar Allan Poe (1809–1849) remains one of the central figures of American literature. Celebrated for his poetry, tales of psychological terror, and pioneering detective fiction, Poe exerted enormous influence on Symbolist, Decadent, and Gothic literature throughout Europe and North America. Poems such as The Raven and Annabel Lee continue to define the romantic and macabre imagination of the nineteenth century.
The illustrator: Edmund Dulac (1882–1953) was among the most celebrated illustrators of the Edwardian era and a leading figure of the Golden Age of Illustration. Best known for his sumptuous interpretations of fairy tales, mythology, and fantasy literature, Dulac produced masterworks for publishers such as Hodder & Stoughton, including The Arabian Nights, The Rubáiyát of Omar Khayyám, and this extraordinary Poe volume. His richly atmospheric compositions and mastery of colour remain highly sought after by collectors worldwide.