Title page
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"Frolic of the Rhine-Maidens"
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"Brünnhilde"
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These Wagner librettos are noteworthy because of the illustrations that accompany them. Arthur Rackham (1867-1939) first achieved fame in England with his illustrated edition of the Grimm brothers' Fairy Tales issued in 1900; his edition of Washington Irving's Rip Van Winkle in 1905 established his reputation in America. That he chose to illustrate Wagner's Rheingold and Valkyrie with thirty-five plates using photoprocess engraving is not surprising since he himself was an opera buff and attended Wagnerian festivals in Bayreuth. The Gothic flavor of his style, marked by angularity of line, attention to detail, and subtle half tones, evokes admirably the world Wagner created in his plots. The book first appeared in October, 1910.