A limited <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book/first-edition?locale=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">first edition</a> of this artistic rendition of the French translation of <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Goethe&amp;tab=objects&amp;sortBy=bsp_dotcom_prod_en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Goethe</a>'s unfinished play, with lithographs by renowned sculptor <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Henry%20Moore&amp;tab=objects&amp;sortBy=bsp_dotcom_prod_en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Henry Moore</a>.<ul><li>Johann Wolfgang von Goethe (German).</li><li>Lithographs by Henry Moore (English).</li><li>Translated by Andre Gide.</li><li>[Paris]:&nbsp;Henri Jonquières / P. A. Nicaise,&nbsp;1950 (completed in 1951).</li><li>[2], 69 pages of loose folia.&nbsp;</li><li>Illustrated with 14 color lithographs.</li><li>Number 183 of 183.</li><li>Text in French.</li><li>Original brown pictorial wrapper, in original board clamshell box, with red lettering.</li></ul> Henry Moore created the lithographs for Prométhée at the height of his fame, as he began to take on more large-scale public works. Many of his illustrations feature a Dalí-esque stark landscape populated by abstracted epic figures, complimenting Goethe's retelling of the Greek creation myth — a fitting story to be executed by a sculptor.

Prométhée Limited First Edition

Books, Manuscripts & Objects from Three Important Collections

A South German Picture Wall Clock with an image after Moritz Retzsch (German, 1779-1857)

A South German Picture Wall Clock with an image after Moritz Retzsch (German, 1779-1857) The Game of Chess (Checkmate) Inscribed Fesenmayer / Franz / 282/3 on the reverse Oil on board Image size 575 x 535mm (framed 775 x 735mm) Like many artists of his generation, inspired by Goethe’s Faust published in 1808, engraver and painter Retzsch held a fascination for the story of Mephistopheles and his bet with God that Faust (a man seeking to learn all that is possible to learn) could be lured away from a righteous and honorable path. Retzsch famously illustrated German publisher Cotta’s 1818 edition of Faust in the form of 26 engravings, although the present composition was not among them. Whether the composition originated as a painting or as an etching is not clear. What is known is that in 1831 Ernst Fleischer published what appears to be the first known print of the etching by Retzsch, and it is possible that Retzsch worked up his painted versions from this. One oil version was sold at Christie’s 7 October 1999. In any case, the widely available print made The Chess Players his best-known composition, and it was widely copied. When American chess master Paul Morphy (1837-84) studied the composition years later, he noticed something surprising. By carefully analysing the position of the pieces, he concluded that the young man was not actually in checkmate, as it seemed. There was still one move that could place the Devil in check and turn the game around. This interpretation transformed the painting into a symbol of strategic hope: even when all seems lost, a clever move can change fate.

View 1 of Lot 85: After Friedrich Moritz August Retzsch | ‘Die Schachspieler', oil on canvas incorporating a wall clock, c.1830s

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