Fritz Eichenberg

Eichenberg is one of my two favorite illustrators (alongside Blake), and I am familiar with the work he did for the LEC. However, besides the Random House Jane Eyre/Wuthering Heights set, I'm not familiar with any of his other stuff.

Any suggestions for work of his published by other presses that is worth tracking down?

:)

Eichenberg has a wonderful art book called The Wood and the Graver that came out in the '70's I would absolutely recommend. It has some Macy commissions, but it also includes a lot of his other woodcuts. He also did a collection of woodcuts for Random House for the tales of Edgar Allan Poe that I would recommend. Those two look to mind, but there are others I'll come to later as well. I as well love Eichenberg's work. :)

He did Gullliver's travels for HP too, I think.

One of the ways to get an idea of what he did is to search " Fritz Eichenberg" on Ebay under "books" or literature...you get a pretty good amount of hits that way...

3) Aye, he did.

Hmm look like the Imprint Society did "The Wood and The Graver." Now comes the agonizing task of deciding whether that is worth the several hundred dollars over the trade version.

The Poe recommendation is great - added to my list .

2) Look to mind...yeesh. I can't think today. XD

Eichenberg also illustrated T.H. White's "Mistress Masham's Repose", which is quite nice (although they are drawings versus woodcuts). I think that's the extent of my current Eichenberg collection outside of Macy's input (I don't have The Wood and the Graver either, but it's an incredible book that I too would love to have!).

At a book auction a few years back, I saw an EXTREMELY limited edition of Dylan Thomas' A Child's Christmas in Wales with illustrations as well as a portfolio of original wood engravings signed by Eichenberg. It was printed by the Thistle Press, a frequent LEC contributor, for Thomas' longtime American publisher New Directions. As I remember, it went for well over $1000.

>1 aaronpepperdine: The Random House set (actually printed by Kingsport Press in 1943) is very nice and be be had in good shape for a reasonable price ($503 Yes, the 1940 HP edition of Gulliver's Travels is great and like most HP editions can be bought very inexpensively ($205 I can vouch for the quality of the Imprint Society's The Wood and the Graver. It also includes a signed drawing. My only expensive Imprint Society book but well worth it.

> 7
It - or one of its 99 companions - has been on sale for several months on Abebooks for $2,500....

Just acquired "Simplicissimus" - fabulous book!

One of my first LECs, and still one of my very favorites. I bought it having never heard of Eichenberg and having seen no pictures of the illustrations, and flipping through it for the first time remains one of my favorite book-collector experiences.

> 10 Interestingly, I just added this book to my wish list yesterday.

He also illustrated almost all Dostoevsky and Tolstoy. Amazingly, he visited Russia only once, for a short visit, being a member of US delegation for some cultural exchange - after he had illustrated the Russian writers. But his ability to see a Russian soul is outstanding.

>13 skyschaker:

Not just Russian--his illustrations for Diary of a Country Priest are just as powerful. I also always felt he would have been the perfect illustrator for Grass's The Tin Drum.

Exactly - all his works, from the portraiture of Lincoln and Gandhi through to the satire of Fables with a Twist via A Child's Christmas in Wales show an essential humanity.

I've picked up a copy of Works of Mercy, mostly about Eichenberg's work for Dorothy Day for The Catholic Worker, published posthumously and designed by Antonie Eichenberg.
It is filled with FE's illustrations for the Catholic Worker, plus some others, while the text presents his thoughts on non violence and his art and more, with the whole an exposition of his 'essential humanity'. Quite good, inexpensive.

Originally I posted this in a separate thread but then realized we already have the discussion going on.

These pictures are from the LEC Simplicissimus. One of Eichenberg's later works.

I will never tire of those woodcuts.

>18 aaronpepperdine:

BTW, I am not sure if you saw it but I posted some pictures from the "Short Stories of Wilkie Collins" with wood engravings by Eichenberg. Handsome book from Story Classics. It was in the thread "Affordable Gems".

It must have felt great to be George Macy in 1938. Commissioning a relatively unknown German artist to illustrate Crime and Punishment must have been risky. It is one thing to fail for example The Vicar of Wakefield and quite another to fail this monumental Russian novel. Now Eichenberg did great and he had a long and successful relationship with the LEC/HP. I only read Crime and Punishment recently but have seen the engraving of Rashkolnikov with the axe before that. Now I knew that something terrible was about to happen but why was he standing at the wrong side of the door? Those who have read the novel know the answer. I think it is fantastic that Eichenberg choose to illustrate this moment rather than Rashkolnikov trying to break in the apartment. Lovely work by Eichenberg here!

He also did this:

http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=10129466093&searchurl=kn=Fr...

I have the LEC of Crime and Punishment which I have read three times, most recently 20 years ago. If memory serves me well, Raskolnikov is standing inside the door because he has just murdered the pawn broker. He is now awaiting her sister, Lizaveta, whom he will also kill.

Some one tell me if I am right.

>22 leccol: At this point he had killed both. He neither wanted nor planned on killing Lizaveta... Here he is awaiting on two men knocking on the door.

So much for my memory. The men knocking must be the workmen in the building. After 20 years, some facts escape me.

>24 leccol: One of the men is a customer of the pawn broker. I forgot who the other man was. They know something is wrong because the door is bolted but not locked though the key is in the key hole.

Which are you reading? The 1938 Heritage Press or the 1948 LEC. Not that it matters from your post, but I'm curious. The engraving of Raskolnikov holding the axe by the door is the frontispiece of volume 1 of the LEC. It is integrated with the text in the Heritage Press edition.

I bought my LEC 1948 edition about 40 years ago for $150. It is in super Fine condition with only the slipcase being remade. It is probably difficult to find an LEC in such Fine condition today,

>26 leccol:

I am reading the 1938 HP edition. Recently found one in great shape. In this first edition the iluustation (above) is integrated with the text. I finished the book in about ten days. It is damn good.

Crime and Punishment is indeed a masterful work, and the Heritage/LEC edition is a splendid way of relishing it. :)

A complete portfolio of wood engravings (18) by Fritz Eichenberg entitled The Adventures of Simplicissimus sold at an auction this weekend for $600 hammer price. One of only fifty issued. Absolute rock bottom! I don't have a good explanation why it is not mine...

>29 BuzzBuzzard:

I assume you have the Simplicissimus LEC? If it has somehow escaped you, go buy a copy immediately!

>30 aaronpepperdine: I have the book. Spectacular illustrations but they were reproduced in a size somewhat smaller than that of the original engravings (according to the ML). The illustrations in the portfolio (approximate size 23" by 23") are produced from the original block and I can imagine how impressive they are.

>31 BuzzBuzzard:

Ah good. The portfolio is on my list as well, and like you mentioned, it does pop up occasionally. I would love to see the woodcuts in their original form.

Reviving an old thread here. I'd admired Eichenberg's engravings for a while without owning any of his books until recently acquiring a reasonably priced copy of the limited The Wood and the Graver from Imprint Society. It's a wonderful read. I plan to slowly acquire several of the LECs illustrated by him along with some others. I was wondering about the Random House Wuthering Heights and Jane Eyre. Most copies that are for sale have the illustrated boards while a few have plain boards (for example: https://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=30582493087&searchurl=kn%3.... Are the plain boards how they were originally issued? I haven't done extensive research but I think the copyright pages are the same. I'm not necessarily set on getting the first state, but I was just curious if anyone knew.

>33 kronnevik: I don't know the answer to your question but my pair (with Eichenberg illustrations on the covers) came as a boxed set. The book to which you linked appears to be sold alone.

33) Mine also was a boxed set with illustrated boards - https://georgemacyimagery.wordpress.com/2013/08/28/of-interest-jane-eyre-and-wut...

Was not aware of the plain boards variant...wish I could be of more help!

I gave up on finding a fine pair in a slipcase that was at least good enough to be mended. I settled for a fine pair sans box. I wish you better luck than me!

I will look at my pair later, to see if I can answer your question.

I also have the boxed edition with illustrated boards. Mine is printed by Kingsport Press, Tennessee. I believe this was printed by other printing houses as well but I don’t know if one edition is better than the other.

Mine are non-illustrated boards, printed by Kingsport Press. I cannot remember the results of my research into whether one edition was preferable to another. But sure to interest you are the contents of a post in this forum that I contributed last February (which I repeat below so that you don't have to search for it):

Today I received the Winter 2019 issue of Raritan, which is one of the few literary periodicals I still subscribe to (I've had to cut down for time and cost reasons). Flicking through, I saw some artwork I immediately recognized -- and was delighted to discover a long essay on Eichenberg titled "Engraving Jane Eyre." Excluding the reproductions, it runs to just over 18 pages.

Many of us here absolutely adore Eichenberg's work, so this would be $10 well spent for many GMD. I think issues of Raritan might be found in Barnes and Noble.

Thanks all. I will check out the Raritan issue. Do let me know if you find out any more about these variants.

Did anyone else get lucky in the Eichenberg auction just now? Some lovely LEC portfolios out of my budget range, but I count myself absolutely blessed to have picked up a signed Don Quixote engraving, ”Fools of Heaven” (Artist’s Proof, numbered/10) for 75 USD plus various fees and charges. The 120 series it resulted in is called ”The Man from La Mancha”. It was the standout piece for me (well, maybe after the Erasmus portfolio) and I would have paid three or four times that!

oh nice!

Another batch of Eichenberg engravings from his studio are up for auction on the 1st of December at Grant Zahajko Auctions (no affiliation), ”Fine and Dec Arts, Jewelry + Asian” - this can be found through the Invaluable auction app by searching for ’Eichenberg’.

A third Eichenberg auction yesterday has left me with very mixed feelings. I won an artist’s proof of his Death in Venice engraving, which is masterful - but where on Earth would one hang that?! Think of the children - or don’t, rather. I also picked up an incomplete set of Simplicissimus engravings numbered 50/50 - three more lots would have been needed for a complete (non-uniformly numbered) set, which turned out too expensive. I suppose I’ll never complete the set now. I had insufficiently deep pockets for a couple of individual works I really wanted. Someone bought the Diary of a Country Priest portfolio for 126 USD (incl. buyer’s premium) which seems a steal. Worst of all - I accidentally bid on, and won, something I could neither afford nor wanted, the House of the Dead portfolio! I’m trying to work out if there’s any way to undo that now… Does anyone have any experience of, say, auction house lifetime bans and such?

>43 GusLogan: It may be that the easiest path is to pay for the item and then try to resell it. I have no idea what the value of the item may be, but most auction houses do not wish to undo a sale once it is made. I can't say that I have had a large experience with auction houses, but I have bid on a number of items in my areas of interest over many years. It seems like many auctions have made it very easy to make a mistaken bid, in their attempts to make online auctions easier for their bidders. At one time the bidder had to type in the amount of their bid, but now a simple click can cause a bid to be made, once you have signed into the auction. I am sure that an auction house could chose to ban you from bidding in the future if you do not pay for an item, but I have no idea if such a ban would, or could be, enforced by other auction houses. It is sort of the old story of the man who waved at a friend at the auction and bought an expensive item.