[KLIMT, GUSTAV] DAS WERK VON GUSTAV KLIMT. EINLEITENDE WORTE: HERMANN BAHR, PETER ALTENBERG. WIEN UND LIEPZIG, HUGO HELLER KUNSTVERLAG, 1918. GUSTAV KLIMT (AUSTRIAN 1862-1918), artist, DAS WERK VON GUSTAV KLIMT. EINLEITENDE WORTE: HERMANN BAHR, PETER ALTERNBERG [The Work of Gustav Klimt] (Vienna and Leipzig: Hugo Heller, 1918), printed by K. K. Hof-und-Staatsdruckerei. Square folio (470 x 453 mm). With embossed title on cover page, containing 50 richly printed collotype plates including 10 in color and heightened in gold and silver, all with specially designed unique intaglio signets printed in gold in lower margins. Contents (title-page, plate lists, and separate sheets with Bahr and Altenberg text) in original case designed by Julius Dratva, Vienna, with grey-green cloth-covered spine over faux calf patterned boards with gilt square on front cover bearing Klimt's name within ornamental circle and his name stamped in gilt on spine. Hand-numbered edition 128/300 of this exceptionally rare and illustrious publication, complete with all printed plates and text. LOT NOTES Das Werk, Klimt's only monograph published in his lifetime, was produced in close collaboration his friend, the Viennese publisher Hugo Heller. Klimt supervised its production from 1908-1918, shortly before his death. Each image is rendered in collotype (heliogravure) and bears its distinctive signet in the lower margin. These gold signets were original designs, which Klimt specifically developed between 1908 and 1914 in order to designate and symbolize each image in this portfolio. The total edition of 300 originally included: I-XXXV including an original drawing by Klimt, XXXVI-LXX with a facsimile signature on the title page, and this edition of 230. However, many were lost or misplaced due to Heller's bankruptcy, subsequent move, and Klimt's death soon after the publication, making existing copies more rare. Amongst the owners of the portfolio were the Emperor Franz Joseph, the first to buy a copy, and the noted American architect Frank Lloyd Wright.