Theodor Kittelsen - Svartedauen Book (1900)

Theodor Kittelsen - Svartedauen Book (1900).

Re-released in 1993.

Svartedauen is a book by Theodor Kittelsen, published in 1900. The book consists of fifteen poems or small pieces of prose poetry, which are illustrated with 45 black and white drawings. The book is published by J.M. Stenersen & Co.'s Forlag, and printed in Oscar Andersen's Bogtrykkeri in Kristiania. Through his poems and drawings, Kittelsen gave many images of the Black Death, as he, in all his horror and horror, has become known to people through legends and folk tradition. Among other things, he shaped Pesta, the personification of the disease.

Kittelsen worked on the book about the Black Death at the same time that Erik Werenskiold started work on illustrating Snorre's King's Quest, in the period from 1889 to 1896. He wrote the texts himself, but he got help from Moltke Moe to modernize the language. The texts are inspired by Norske Folke-Sagn by Andreas Faye (1844). Although the manuscript attracted great interest, it took four years before it was finished printing.

Svartedauen is considered a high point for Kittelsen as a black-and-white artist, and the book should have a special position in Norwegian book art.