DIE NACHTIGALL UND DIE ROSE. DREI MÄRCHEN. [THE NIGHTINGALE AND THE ROSE. THREE FAIRY TALES]

Bayreuth: The Bear Press, 1982. No. 4 OF 15 COPIES with hand-colored etchings, signed by Benda, Klitsch, and Lehr, from a total edition of 210. 226 x 146 mm. (9 x 5 7/8"). 50 pp., [2] leaves.Translated and with an afterword by Wolfram Benda.
Publisher's dark brown calf by Erwin Lehr, covers with gilt fillet border, upper cover with large gilt rose at center, raised bands, spine in gilt-ruled compartments, gilt lettering. In the original slipcase covers with ivory handmade paper. With four signed and hand-colored etchings by Peter Klitsch, all with original tissue guards. Printed on Kochi-Japan paper. ◆In pristine condition.

This is a lovely special version of a finely crafted private press edition of Wilde's fairy tales "The Nightingale and the Rose," "The Happy Prince," and "The Selfish Giant." It is the third work issued by the Bear Press, founded in 1979 by literary scholar Wolfram Benda and still in operation. According to the firm's website, "at a time when the craftsmanship and ethos of the artisan in bookmaking have been damaged by ever-increasing industrialization and neglect . . . The Bear Press . . . tries to achieve the highest possible degree of technical and artistic perfection in its printed works." The font used to print the text and the artist chosen to illustrate each work have been carefully selected to express "the individual author's personality and intention." Even the discriminating aesthete Wilde (1854-1900) would be pleased with the choices here: the type is set in refined Walbaum Antiqua; the etchings by Austrian artist Peter Klitsch (b. 1934) are meticulous, detailed, and reminiscent of the work of Wilde's friend Aubrey Beardsley; and the binding is the epitome of tasteful restraint. First appearing in 1888, the three tales here are bittersweet in their themes of love and self-sacrifice. Wilde's stories for children were one of his early successes, and DNB says that "their permanent place in child affections refutes the vulgarism that Wilde's literary reputation arose from his legal notoriety. In all cases [the fairy tales] are on the child's side, celebrating the courage and generosity of the poor and vulnerable, while their satire mocks the kind of pomposity and hypocrisy children can recognize.".