This splendid version of Shakespeare's Hamlet, one of the most spectacular to ever be published, was illustrated by Edward Gordon Craig using woodblocks of Craig’s “black figures” and specially designed typography. Our senior specialist, Dr Phil Errington, presents this magnificent German-language edition of the play, printed by the Cranach Press in 1929.
This book showcases Craig’s greatest achievement in book illustration. Based on designs created in 1908 and dubbed his “black figures”, they were subsequently developed for the famed Moscow Art Theatre production in 1912, one of the most impressive productions of the play for the modern stage.
The technical brilliance of this edition is in the printing of the same plate in different tones. Thanks to this technique, we can see certain elements of the illustrations stand out in a distinctly darker tone, hence lending an arresting and beautiful dynamic to the images in this book.
You can find this magnificent title, and many other editions of Shakespeare, in the link in our bio.
#rarebooks #peterharrington #shakespeare #hamlet #tobeornottobe #cranach #press #edwardgordoncraig #bookillustration #bookseller #books #woodblock #darkart #booklover #williamshakespeare