Illustrations by Stefan Eggeler for a 1922 edition of Gustav Meyrink’s Walpurgisnacht:
From the collection of Richard Sica
Richard Sica reminded me that the last day of April is Walpurgisnacht. I’ve long had these six etchings from his collection ready to post, squirreled away on my hard drive (medication will soon exist for digital hoarding). They are on copper etching paper and signed in pencil in the lower right corner.
There’s little information on Eggeler in English, though he was a prolific illustrator with a unique style. Here’s a short bio:
An Austrian painter, printmaker and illustrator, Stefan Eggeler (1894 – 1969) studied art at the Vienna Academy. His first original etching was published in 1914 and during the following twenty years he created a number of outstanding engravings and etchings, most dealing with either figure studies or interior scenes. Via.
Walpurgisnacht is available in English (sans illustrations) from Dedalus, as part of its ambitious Meyrink translation program. Here is part of a review from The Times:
It is 1917. Europe is torn apart by war, Russia in the grip of revolution, the Austro-Hungarian Empire on the brink of collapse. It is Walpurgisnacht, springtime pagan festival of unbridled desire. In this volcanic atmosphere, in a Prague of splendor and decay, the rabble prepare to storm the hilltop castle, and Dr Thaddaeus Halberd, once the court physician, mourns his lost youth. Phantasmagorical prose, energetically translated, marvelously evokes past and present, personal and political, a devastated world.
Previous posts from Richard Sica’s collection:Illustrations by Stefan Eggeler for a 1922 edition of Gustav Meyrink’s Walpurgisnacht
From the collection of Richard Sica
01 Stefan Eggeler, illus. for Gustav Meyrink’s Walpurgisnacht (1922)
02 Stefan Eggeler, illus. for Gustav Meyrink’s Walpurgisnacht (1922)
03 Stefan Eggeler, illus. for Gustav Meyrink’s Walpurgisnacht (1922)
04 Stefan Eggeler, illus. for Gustav Meyrink’s Walpurgisnacht (1922)
05 Stefan Eggeler, illus. for Gustav Meyrink’s Walpurgisnacht (1922)
06 Stefan Eggeler, illus. for Gustav Meyrink’s Walpurgisnacht (1922)
Richard Sica reminded me that today (the last day of April) is Walpurgisnacht. I’ve long had these six etchings from his collection ready to post, squirreled away on my hard drive (medication will soon exist for digital hoarding). They are on copper etching paper and signed in pencil in the lower right corner.
There’s little information on Eggeler in English, though he was a prolific illustrator with a unique style. Here’s a short bio:
An Austrian painter, printmaker and illustrator, Stefan Eggeler (1894 – 1969) studied art at the Vienna Academy. His first original etching was published in 1914 and during the following twenty years he created a number of outstanding engravings and etchings, most dealing with either figure studies or interior scenes. Via.
Walpurgisnacht is available in English (sans illustrations) from Dedalus, as part of its ambitious Meyrink translation program. Here is part of a review from The Times:
It is 1917. Europe is torn apart by war, Russia in the grip of revolution, the Austro-Hungarian Empire on the brink of collapse. It is Walpurgisnacht, springtime pagan festival of unbridled desire. In this volcanic atmosphere, in a Prague of splendor and decay, the rabble prepare to storm the hilltop castle, and Dr Thaddaeus Halberd, once the court physician, mourns his lost youth. Phantasmagorical prose, energetically translated, marvelously evokes past and present, personal and political, a devastated world.
Previous posts from Richard Sica’s collection:
Alexeieff’s Queen of Spades
Suffocating in the Villa des Charmes
A Voyage to the Island of the Articoles
L’Abbé de l’Abbaye
Alexeieff’s Fall
Les Fleurs du Skull
La Danse Macabre
The Sphinx
Ex Libris Mr. Reaper
Ex Bibliotheca Macabrum
