(Haarlem, Netherlands: Joh. Enschedé en Zonen [For the Limited Editions Club], 1955).

FIRST OF THE EDITION, LIMITED, ILLUSTRATED AND SIGNED BY THE ARTIST. A very beautiful edition by the publisher. The paper, the font, the designs, the binding all work beautifully together. This book was in gestation longer than any other book published by LEC, begun in 1939 it ws not ready for distribution until 1955.
Sophocles has been called the father of modern theatre and the Homer of tragedy. “According to Aristotle in the Poetics, Sophocles was an innovator in tragedy: he added a third to the previously accepted two actors, introduced ‘scene painting’, and increased the chorus from twelve to fifteen; he also abandoned the Aeschylean practice of writing trilogies on related events instead giving each play a self-contained plot....His characters were admired by Aristotle for being ‘like ourselves only nobler’; his heroes and heroines are placed in circumstances in which they must act, and by their actions, which often have tragic consequences, they show their heroic stature. For Aristotle, Oedipus Rex represented Greek tragedy at its greatest.” - Howatson. Item #25819

Number 1258 of 1500 copies signed by the illustrator. This copy with the original prospectus and letter describing the book and its production. With illustrations by Demetrios Galanis, throughout, all of Greek theme, full page and as medallions, coloured in terra-cotta orange and black. Types designed by van Krimpen. Folio, original polished black buckram with gilt lettering on the spine, the upper cover lettered in Greek and English in gilt and with a illustrated design by the artist depicting Demetrios Galanis, and coloured in white and terra-cotta, housed in the publisher's original slipcase. 161 pp. A very fine copy, as pristine with only the most minimal evidence of mellowing at the spine panel, the slipcase also very well preserved.