VASSOS, John (illus.); WILDE, Oscar.

£750 · Offered by Peter Harrington · No longer available

The Ballad of Reading Gaol. First Vassos trade edition, first printing, inscribed on the half-title by the illustrator, "To Josephine Allen, in symbolism, John Vassos", and with Allen's signature on the front pastedown. Vassos's art-deco illustrations poignantly complement Wilde's famous poem.Vassos (1898-1985) was an American industrial and graphic designer famous for designing the first commercially available television sets and many popular logos. In 1926, Vassos's design for a cover illustration for a stage production of Salomé caught the attention of the publishers E. P. Dutton, resulting in a Vassos-illustrated edition of the play published in 1927. He illustrated eight further books, of which this is the second.

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