Faust.

GOETHE. TRANSLATED BY ABRAHAM HAYWARD. WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY WILLY POGANY,.

Item Number: 118641

London: Hutchinson & Co., nd.

Finely bound example of Goethe’s masterpiece. Octavo, bound in full scarlet morocco by Bayntun with morocco spine labels lettered in gilt, elaborate gilt tooling to the spine in six compartments within raised gilt bands, double gilt ruling to the panels, gilt turn-ins and inner dentelles, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. Illustrated with sixteen full page illustrations in color by Willy Pogany including tissue-guarded frontispiece, pictorial title page in black and red, decorative vignettes throughout text. Preface by Roger Ingpen and appendix with Percy Blythe Shelley’s translation of Goethe’s works. In fine condition. Rare and desirable bound by Bayntun.

The story of a man who sells his soul to the devil in exchange for unlimited knowledge and worldly pleasures, the Faust legend first became popularized in late 16th century England by Christopher Marlowe who gave it a classic treatment in his play, The Tragical History of Doctor Faustus. The Faust of early books—as well as the ballads, dramas, movies, and puppet-plays which grew out of them—is irrevocably damned because he prefers human to divine knowledge; in Goethe's reworking of the story two hundred years later, Faust becomes a dissatisfied intellectual who yearns for "more than earthly meat and drink" in his life.