Moab

 

Edward Gordon Craig

  1872 - 1966 (biography)

c. 1940  

blockprint, printed in green/brown ink 

2 1/8 x 2 5/8" irregular image size 

unsigned 

proofs only 

"Final st. no. 9"; "FMIT"? 

 

fine laid tissue 

final proof of ninth state. 

Cranach Press, never published 

13963 

$350.00 

This impression is annotated in pencil in the lower left margin: "Final St No 9". Craig agreed to illustrate "Robinson Crusoe" in the late 1920's for Count Kessler, to be published by the Cranach Press. Because of the Count's health problems and Craig's slow production the project was abandoned in 1930. Craig revived interest in the project in 1938 and began to work again on the plates but WWII put an end to this creative burst and only a few more designs had been completed. After that he lost interest and the project was left uncompleted. A posthumous edition was printed by his son, published by the Basilisk Press in 1979. Lifetime proofs are extremely rare.