Gilgamesch; eine Erzählung aus dem alten Orient. Original-Radierungen von Richard Janthur

Berlin: Verlag Fritz Gurlitt, 1919. First Edition. Folio, 50pp; frontispiece and ten additional original etchings, with decorative initials and vignettes throughout; linen-backed boards. Slight wear to tips and spine-ends; a bump to the edge of the rear board has broken through the covering paper; small spot to the upper corner on rear linen. Item #206366

One of 125 numbered copies (121), signed by Janthur at the colophon. Another fifty copies were divided into other deluxe issues with all the prints signed. The text for this edition was Georg E. Burckhardt's translation originally published in 1916. This copy bears a gift inscription: "Meiner kleinen 'Gazelle' von Juljet Gurlitt," evidently the publisher's wife Juliette. Wolfgang Gurlitt took over his father's art and publishing business after Fritz Gurlitt's death in 1893. The artist Richard Janthur was a key member of the expressionist group called Die Pathetiker (in reference to pathos) and a founding member of the Novembergruppe. This is one of his earlier illustrated books.

Price: $1,500.00