Romeo and Juliet. With designs by Oliver Messel

[Oliver Messel]

'To preserve the quality of the work, only a small edition of the book is being printed, and this is likely to soon by exhausted, forming as it does an ideal Christmas gift to any lover of the stage and Shakespeare and to anyone interested in a sympathetic interpretation by one of England's most brilliant designers.' (from the publisher's prospectus).
 
In 1936 Oliver Messel designed the set and costumes for the film ofRomeo and Juliet  produced by MGM in Hollywood. The film was directed by George Cukor and starred Norma Shearer (to whom the book is dedicated) and Leslie Howard. This charming edition of the play was published as a souvenir of Messel's work on the film. Shakespeare's text is accompanied by high-quality reproductions of the original set and costume drawings created by Messel.



William Shakespeare. Illustrated by Oliver Messel. B.T. Batsford Ltd. London. 1936. First edition. Hardback, quarto; decorated, purple cloth-bound boards, without dust jacket. 96 pages. 32 hors-texte black-and-white collotype plates and 8 mounted colour plates, reproducing Messel's original drawings. English. 290 x 215mm. 1.2kg. . Fair; lacking dust jacket, wear and some marks to cloth, rubbing and discolouration to spine; some dustiness and browning to edges, some spotting to prelims, contemporary inscription to front endpaper; from our Imperfect Shelves and thus sold at a reduced price, with no frills but reliable packaging.