The Life of the Bee - Maurice Maeterlinck, Edward J. Detmold (illustrator), Alfred Sutro (translator) 1912 - George Allen &, London - Early Illustrated Edition A large and beautifully illustrated volume. With thirteen mounted coloured plates by Edward Julius Detmold, whose love of natural history and talent (exhibiting works at the Royal Academy when he was 13 years old), have combined perfectly with Maeterlinck’s exuberantly poetic work, in which he expresses his philosophy of the human condition.

The renowned Belgian poet and dramatist offers brilliant proof in this, his most popular work, that ‘
no living creature, not even man, has achieved in the centre of his sphere, what the bee has achieved.’ From their amazingly intricate feats of architecture to their intrinsic sense of self-sacrifice, Maeterlinck takes a ‘bee's-eye view’ of the most orderly society on Earth.
  Maeterlinck [1862-1949] was a Belgian author, poet the outstanding exponent of symbolist drama. Abandoning the legal profession, he moved to Paris in 1886 and came under the influence of the symbolist poets. Reacting against the prevailing naturalism of French literature, Maeterlinck wrote symbolist poetry, however he is known principally for his plays, for which he received the 1911 Nobel Prize.

Quarto (book size 28.3x23.6cm), pp. vii [1] 235 [1]. In publisher’s cream cloth boards, with emblem of bee to spine which is lettered in ochre, front panel illustrated and lettered in ochre, endpapers,with bee emblem in black to pastedowns, top edge trimmed others untrimmed.
  Condition: Fine but for a very small patch of toning to upper corner of first few pages.   Ref: 111530   Price: HK$ 4,500