The Tempest

London & New York: Heinemann & Doubleday, 1926, Limited to 520 numbered copies, 4to, Dust Jacket, quarter vellum, with white pictorial boards, uncut, fine condition.

Illustrated and Signed in manuscript by Arthur Rackham with 21 tipped-in colour plates plus pictorial title page and several small black and white illustrations, printed on hand-made paper with an extra colour plate not in the trade edition. A beautiful clean crisp copy.

When asked to name five plays by Shakespeare he would like to illustrate, Rackham placed The Tempest at the top, second only to A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and is evident in the ethereal and subdued colour plates. The Tempest is among Gettings’ survey of Rackham’s Best Book Illustrations. The Tempest is thought to have been written in 1610-1611, and said to be the last play that Shakespeare composed alone. Set on a remote island, where the sorcerer Prospero, rightful Duke of Milan, plots to restore his daughter Miranda to her rightful place using illusion and skillful manipulation. Prospero conjures up a storm, the tempest, to cause his usurping brother Antonio and the complicit King Alonso of Naples to believe they are shipwrecked and marooned on the island. There, his machinations bring about the revelation of Antonio’s lowly nature, the redemption of the King, and the marriage of Miranda to Alonso’s son, Ferdinand.