Signed by Arthur Rackham.

A limited edition work. Limited to eleven hundred and fifty copies numbered and signed by the illustrator. This copy is numbered two-hundred and fifty-two.

Illustrated with a tipped-in colour frontispiece, vignette title page, and twenty-nine tipped-in colour plates.

Collated, text is complete, though lacking the ribbon tie to the boards.

From Wagner's series, titled 'Der Ring des Nibelungen', or 'The Ring of the Nibelung', or simply the 'Ring Cycle'.

There are four dramas in the series, 'Das Rheingold'/'The Rhinegold', 'Die Walkure'/'The Valkyrie', 'Siegfried', and 'Gotterdammerung'/'Twilight of the Gods'

The four dramas are loosely based on characters from Norse mythology and the Nibelungenlied.

The plot of the four dramas revolves around a magical ring, that grants the wearer the power to rule the world. It is said that the ring was forged by the Nibelung dwarf Alberich from gold that he stole from the River Rhine's maidens.

Wagner wrote the libretto and music over about twenty-six years, from 1848 to 1874. He intended them to be performed in a series, and the first performance of the cycle opened at the first Bayreuth Festival in 1876. Many believe that the composition and story of this cycle raised the standards of the art form. It is also considered that to put on the cycle is one of the biggest challenges any opera company can undertake.

Richard Wagner is well remembered today for his operas, which are known for their complex textures, rich harmonies, and for the fact that he wrote both the libretto and music. His 1857-59 work 'Tristan und Isolde' has been considered to lay the groundwork for classical music in the twentieth century, being the start of modern music.

Illustrated by Arthur Rackham. Rackham was a book illustrator who illustrated editions of 'The Ingoldsby Legends', 'The Wind in the Willows', 'Grimm's Fairy Tales', and 'Gulliver's Travels', as well as contributing frequently to periodicals. He is considered to be one of the leaders of the 'Golden Age' of book illustrations.

Translated from German to English by Margaret Armour, a Scottish translator, poet, and novelist. She also translated worked by Gustav Legerlotz and Heinrich Heine.