71 / 260
50
Seán Keating PRHA HRA HRSA (1889-1977)
THE PLAYBOY OF THE WESTERN WORLD by John Millington Synge
deluxe edition; (no. 44 from an edition of 1,000)
A Comedy in Three Acts. With Ten Illustrations by John Keating RHA. London: George Allen, 1927. Edition de Luxe, one
of 1,000 of which this is no. 44. Pages, 112. Folio, bound in quarter cloth, pale green paper boards. Title printed in black
to upper cover and stamped in gilt on spine. Housed in original box with title label to cover. Neat ownership name to
front free endpaper, otherwise a fine cope in well preserved box.A very handsome production of Synge’s masterpiece
with ten plates in colour by Keating, each with titled tissue-guards. There is no evidence that Keating ever met John
Millington Synge, but in 1917 the artist exhibited a painting in the RHA titled The Outlandish Lovers, which was
inspired by The Playboy of the Western World. Synge’s nephew, known as ‘Hutchie’, approached Keating in 1922 with
a commission to paint twelve illustrations for a proposed deluxe volume of The Playboy of the Western World. In the
event, ten of the twelve images were published. The full set of paintings was to have been ready in 1926, but a delay on
Keating’s part meant that the book was finally published as a numbered series of one thousand copies in 1927.
€400-€600 (£290-£440 approx. approx.)
Large Image & Place Bid Lot 50IRISH & INTERNATIONAL ART · 28 SEPTEMBER 2015