Tannhauser : A Dramatic Poem Freely Translated in Poetic Narrative Form by T.W. Rolleston

New York: Brentano's. Very Good+ with no dust jacket. N.D.. Hardcover. Lacks the elusive dust jacket. Rubbing to edges, corners, hinges, and spine ends. Previous owner's name in ink on front pastedown. The front endpaper has a small abrasion, possibly from sticker removal. Pastedowns and endpapers lightly toned.; Tannhäuser, the full title being Tannhäuser and the Minnesängers' Contest at Wartburg, is Richard Wagner's epic, poetic, opera of the opposition of sacred, otherworldly love and profane, worldly love. The mythical character Tannhäuser is a medieval German poet and songwriter who abandons his chaste Elizabeth and descends to be with Venus in her ethereal, subterranean realm of Venusberg. Dissatisfied, he ascends to the real-worldly Wartburg. reunites with Elisabeth, enters the songwriting contest of the Minnesängers, and horrifies the staid, pious listeners with his song of earthly, sensual love. In disgrace, he repairs to Rome to do penance. Meeting the Pope, he is not absolved, but instead is cursed. Although Venus welcomes him to return to her, he learns that the despairing Elizabeth has died by her own hand. Finding her in her funeral procession, he begs her soul to forgive him, then he dies. All of this is written poetically as the libretto for Wagner's score in three acts. Translated into five parts by prolific Irish poet, author, and translator T. W. (Thomas William Hazen) Rolleston. Rolleston was ideal for the task, having lived in Germany, being fluent in the language, and having a poetic sense for recreating Wagner's story in verse form. The original work was first published in 1900 and a Harrap edition with similarities to this one in 1910 and 1911. There is no date of publication for this edition, but it would be before 1933 when Brentano's sold its publishing department to Coward-McCann. While the Brentano's and Harrap editions have similarities, they use differing sets of Pogany's illustrations, some illustrations use differing colors, and page frames are different. What sets this edition apart are the 114 mildly-erotic illustrations depicting the story's human and otherworldly characters as god-like, perfect beings. Hungarian book illustrator Willy Pogany's sensuous, Art Nouveau pen-and-ink drawings and paintings place these characters in dreamy, ethereal scenarios. Colated and all illustrations are present. This work was published by Brentano's in variants with differing sizes, and differing quantities and types of illustrations. This variant has 12 tipped-in color plates, 25 monochrome plates, and 77 in-text cuts and ornaments. Most pages have text and cuts within a floral frame printed in light rose. The illustrations in the first four and last monochrome plates are overprinted in this second color. Pogany used this style of 2-color printing to good effect in this and other books, such as Walk Me Through My Dreams, by Joe Lindsay. Unpaginated, but 127 pages. In serif and calligraphic text on fine paper, head of the text block trimmed. At the tail of the last plate, it's stated "Printed by H. & J. Pillans & Wilson, Edinburgh." Pogany's gilt illustration in blind on black buckram over boards. Gilt title and decoration to spine. With the ownership signature of William M. Emerson, President 1948-1977 of the Fred L. Emerson Foundation, a community services philanthropic organization in North Central New York. Clean inside and out. About Very Good+.; Drawings; Large 8vo 9" - 10" tall; 127 pages .