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Peer Gynt (1936)

Illustrated by Arthur Rackham

On the left, we show a rare copy of Henrik Ibsen's Peer Gynt - illustrated by Rackham and produced by George G Harrap & Co. Ltd (London) in 1936.   This example retains the original decoratively gilt-stamped red cloth cover.             To the right, we show the decorated Title Page for Peer Gynt with designs by Arthur Rackham.

Peer Gynt was originally written by Henrik Ibsen in 1867, when he was nearly forty. Accoring to Ibsen's own comments,

it was conceived in the mood of a "Korstog-Jubel" - a "Crusader's Song of Triumph".

The play is first and foremost a poetic fantasy and only incidentally a satire. It is a fantasy woven out of the folklore of

Ibsen's Scandinavian heritage and embroidered by his wealth of thought and keen wit. There is philosophy to be found

in it, no doubt, but Ibsen did not set out to write a philosophical poem, but a fantasy involving the legendary character

of Peer Gynt (reputed to have been an inhabitant of Gudbrandsdal in the 18th Century) who is also mentioned in

Asbjörnsen's Norwegian Fairy Tales as having a penchant for fighting and conquering trolls.

On the question of his inspiration, in 1880 Ibsen wrote the following:

To make the matter intelligible I should have to write a whole book, and for that

the time has not yet come. Everything that I have written has the closest possible

connection with what I have lived through, even if it has not been my own

personal experience; in every new poem or play I have aimed at my own spiritual

emancipation and purification.

One of the outstanding features of Peer Gynt - the characters of Aase, Peer's mother, and the incident woven around her -

was derived from Ibsen's own experiences, for as he wrote in 1870, "This poem contains much that is reminiscent of my

own youth; for Aase my mother - with necessary exaggerations - served as model".

In 1876, Ibsen prepared an abridged version of Peer Gynt for presentation at the Christiania theatre, where it was

performed with Grieg's incidental music and, in time, it became a feature in the repertories of the major Scandinavian

theatres. Foreign language translations followed, German in 1881, English in 1892 and French in 1896.

Arthur Rackham's interpretation of Ibsen's classic work retains all the characteristics of Rackham's illustrative approach,

while imbibing the images with a Scandinavian sense that is entirely complementary to Ibsen's play.

Our Greeting Cards and Reproduction Images

For connoisseurs of Rackham's work, we have prepared sets of 12 Greeting Cards displaying each of his colour images for Peer Gynt and on the left, we show an example of how these Greeting Cards appear.             Code: AR PG CS(12) Price: US$60.00

When presented on Greeting Cards, these images are prepared as tipped-in plates - in hommage to the hand-crafted approach

typical of prestige illustrated publications produced in the early decades of the 20th Century. Each card is hand-finished and

and the images are presented on Ivory card stock with an accompanying envelope. The rear of each card carries information

about Arthur Rackham, this wonderful suite and the profiled illustration - we have left the interior of the cards blank so that

you may write your own personal message.

Should you wish to order a Reproduction Print of one or more of these images, we have provided some options below.

Each of these large format prints is also accompanied by information about Arthur Rackham, this suite and the profiled

illustration.

To purchase, simply click on the appropriate "Add to Cart" button and you will be taken through to our Shopping Cart

secured through PayPal. Multiple purchases will be consolidated by that feature and shipping and handling costs to any

destination in the world are accommodated by our flat-rate fee of US$20 for every US$200 worth of purchases.

Of course, should you wish to discuss some customised options, we welcome your contact on any matter through

ThePeople@SpiritoftheAges.com.

In the meantime, enjoy perusing these wonderful images from Arthur Rackham's interpretation of Peer Gynt.

The colour illustrations

Peer before the King of the Tolls (Frontispiece)	Aase on the Mill-house Roof	Peer among the Wedding Guests	Peer and Solveig at the Wedding
Reproduction on 10x15" sheet Code: AR PG 1 (10x15) Price: US$50.00	Reproduction on 10x15" sheet Code: AR PG 2 (10x15) Price: US$50.00	Reproduction on 10x15" sheet Code: AR PG 3 (10x15) Price: US$50.00	Reproduction on 10x15" sheet Code: AR PG 4 (10x15) Price: US$50.00
Peer follows the Woman in Green	The Dance of the Trolls	Peer and the Troll Witch	The Death of Aase
Reproduction on 10x15" sheet Code: AR PG 5 (10x15) Price: US$50.00	Reproduction on 10x15" sheet Code: AR PG 16(10x15) Price: US$50.00	Reproduction on 10x15" sheet Code: AR PG 7 (10x15) Price: US$50.00	Reproduction on 10x15" sheet Code: AR PG 18(10x15) Price: US$50.00
Anitra's Dance	Peer and the Statue of Memnon	Peer and the Threadballs	The Thin Person
Reproduction on 10x15" sheet Code: AR PG 9 (10x15) Price: US$50.00	Reproduction on 10x15" sheet Code: AR PG 10 (10x15) Price: US$50.00	Reproduction on 10x15" sheet Code: AR PG 11 (10x15) Price: US$50.00	Reproduction on 10x15" sheet Code: AR PG 12 (10x15) Price: US$50.00