THE RAVEN GIRL

New York City, NY: Abrams ComicArts, 2013. First Edition. First Printing.. Hardcover. As New/As New Dust Jacket.. New York City, NY: Abrams ComicArts, 2013. Hardcover. As New/As New. First Edition/First Printing. 80 pages. The author's fourth novel-in-pictures. Even by Audrey Niffenegger's exacting standards, it is one of the most beautifully realized book productions of our time. The First Hardcover Edition. Precedes and should not be confused with all other subsequent editions, including the British Edition. Published in a small and limited first print run as a hardcover original only that sold out shortly after publication. The First Edition is now scarce. A stunningly beautiful production by Audrey Niffenegger and Sara Corbett: Regular-sized volume format. Pictorial hard boards with black titles on spine, as issued. Art and text by Audrey Niffenegger. Pale gray gilt edges, which match the color of the DJ. Printed on thick glossy stock paper to the highest standards. In pictorial DJ with pale gray metallic-silver titles on the cover and spine, as issued. Presents Audrey Niffenegger's "Raven Girl". Her fourth illustrated novel. Unlike her previous works in the same vein (where the images dominate) , "The Raven Girl" is told in images and text of equal weight and significance. "A dreamy, dark fairy tale. In it, an English postman falls in love with a fledgling raven from East Underwhelm, Otherworld. The pair conceive a child, a raven trapped in a girl's body, who becomes so distraught that she engages the services of a plastic surgeon to give her wings" (Rebecca Barry) . "Hauntingly captures the world of birds and humans, and as the title suggests, a creature somewhere in between" (The Chicago Tribune) . Niffenegger's Grimm-ly evocative tale has been favorably compared to the work of Edward Gorey. Quite apart from the fact that hers is a frankly erotic, proto-feminist sensibility (whereas Gorey was a deeply closeted gay man who was a lifelong celibate) , the iconographic patterns, unusual perspectives, tensile lines, and gossamer atmosphere suggest a hypnotic and ethereal otherworldliness that is Niffenegger's own. Her 21st-century, post-feminist response to Edgar Allan Poe's "The Raven", "The Raven Girl" has been adapted into a full-length ballet by The Royal Ballet London, which premiered on May 24 and ran until June 8, 2013. An absolute "must-have" title for Audrey Niffenegger collectors. This copy is very prominently and beautifully signed, placed, and dated (on the day of the exhibition) in black pen-marker on the title page by the artist/author: "Audrey Niffenegger June 14, 2013, Chicago". It is signed directly on the page itself, not on a tipped-in page. Laid-in is a pristine copy of the "Raven Girl: New Etchings" Exhibition Card. This title is a contemporary classic. As far as we know, this is the only such signed, placed, and exhibition-day dated copy of the First Hardcover Edition/First Printing available online and is in especially fine condition: Clean, crisp, and bright. Please note: Copies available online have serious flaws or are subsequent printings. This is surely an accessible and lovely alternative. A rare signed copy thus. One of the finest American artist/writers of our time. A fine copy. (SEE ALSO OTHER AUDREY NIFFENEGGER TITLES IN OUR CATALOG). ISBN 1419707264.