THE TALE OF LOHENGRIN, KNIGHT OF THE SWAN

First edition, first printing. Deluxe limited edition, signed by the illustrator. Publisher's original vellum-covered boards with titles and illustrations in gilt to the spine and upper board. Top edge gilt. Illustrated endpapers. Lavishly and profusely illustrated with 8 mounted colour plates, colour lithographs and black and white line drawings throughout by Willy Pogany, with some of the text and drawings being accented with brown, blue and green. A near fine copy, the binding firm, the boards only very slightly bowed. The contents, with very faint spotting to the prelims, are otherwise entirely complete and clean throughout and without previous owners' stamps or inscriptions. Complete with the original illustrated box which is worn at the edges, with one side of the bottom half split at the corners. A beautiful, scarce edition.

This deluxe issue was issued in a limited edition of 525 copies, this example numbered 16 and signed by Willy Pogany in black in on the limitation page. Pogany's stunning, Art Nouveau-tinged illustrations breathe life into Wagner's opera, which is based on the German Arthurian legend of the knight Lohengrin, son of of Percival, who rode a boat drawn by swans to rescue a lady.