ROBERT DE FLERS (1872-1927) ALFONS MUCHA (1860-1939) ILSÉE, PRINZESSIN VON TRIPOLIS [ILSÉE, PRINCESS OF TRIPOLI] LIMITED EDITION. 1901. 1 VOLUME IN A SLIPCASE. IN GERMAN.

Prague, Kunst-Verlag B. Koci, 1901. translated by Régine Adler illustrated by Alfons Mucha In-4 paperback, unpaginated (128 pp.), in its original slipcase with engraved title and embossed coat of arms, illustrated cover with gilt lettering; colour lithographs enhanced with gold and silver, including 5 full-page plates, numerous ornaments, borders, frames and vignettes. Embossing on the front and back endpapers. First edition of Régine Adler’s translation. Copy no. 433. Limited edition of 800 numbered copies on vellum paper. Slipcase 30.5 x 24 x 2 cm Book 30.5 x 24 x 2 cm Good condition. Scuffing to the edges of the case, a few stains; the spine of the cover has some small tears and cracks, and the rear endpapers are detached. 'Ilsée, Princess of Tripoli' is a work inspired by Edmond Rostand’s play 'La Princesse Lointaine', written for the famous actress Sarah Bernhardt in 1895, commissioned from the author Robert de Flers by the Parisian publisher Henri Piazza, and first published in 1897. A few years after the French edition, the Prague-based publisher Koci organised a reprint, 'Ilsée, Prinzessin von Tripolis', with 800 copies printed in German and 200 in Czech as 'Ilséa, princezna Tripolisská', featuring the same illustrations, with the exception of certain colours, likely due to the use of the same drawing templates for the new lithographic plates; it is noted in the French version that all the plates had been destroyed after the print run. Robert Pellevé de la Motte-Ango, Marquis de Flers, known as Robert de Flers French playwright and librettist. Author of numerous comedies and operettas in collaboration with Gaston Arman de Caillavet and later Francis de Croisset, he was elected to the Académie française in 1920. Alfons Mucha Czechoslovakian poster artist, illustrator, graphic designer, painter, interior designer, decorator and art teacher. He was a leading exponent of the Art Nouveau style. Edmond Rostand (1868-1918) French writer, playwright, poet and essayist. Famous for his verse plays and his romantic style, he is the author of one of the best-known plays in French theatre, Cyrano de Bergerac.