10 ORIGINAL RADIERUNGEN ZUR DIE CHINESISCHEN FLOTE VON HANS BETHGE

(Bachrich, Melly)illus. 10 ORIGINAL RADIERUNGEN ZUR DIE CHINESISCHEN FLOTE VON HANS BETHGE. F. Lang, Vienna, 1922. A limited edition of 300, of which this is copy number 285. Cloth-backed pictorial boards with Chinese themes in orange, gold, silver and black, with self-flaps enclosing a title page and ten fascicles, each with a poem and a signed etching. In Very Good condition with some rubbing to the cloth of the spine, some wear to the edges and corners of the boards, and partial separation of the flaps. The internals are Fine. Hans Bethge (German, 1876-1946) was a poet and writer. In 1907 he translated Chinese poems from the period of the Tang Dynasty, a series of which were published in 1907 as Die Chinesischen Flote (The Chinese Flute). The book became very popular was reprinted many times. Its poems were the source material for Gustav Mahler's Das Lied Von Der Erde, and texts from it were also set to music by several other prominent Twentieth Century composers. Melly Bachrich, was born in Vienna in 1899, and was a graphic designer and printmaker.