29.8 x 22.7 cm. 140 pages. With 141 (4 of which are hand-colored) and 3 (some double-page and folded) music supplements. Original color brochure in black and blue with spine and cover titles. - The rare and sought-after first edition. The most important manifesto of Expressionism and Modernism. Texts by Kandinsky, Marc, Macke, and Arnold Schoenberg. Illustrations by Arp, Kandinsky, and Marc, including two magnificent color pochoir sheets by Kandinsky and Marc. Scores by Alban Berg, Schoenberg, and A. von Weber. Also included are illustrations of most important modern artists. For the cover, Kandinsky created a magnificent color woodcut from two blocks in black and blue. Kandinsky: "We invented the name 'The Blue Rider' at the coffee table in the garden shed in Sindelsdorf; we both loved blue, Marc - horses, I - riders. So the name came about naturally." The almanac was supposed to be published simultaneously in Munich, Paris, and Moscow. This ambitious intention never came to fruition. On May 10, 1912, the book "The Blue Rider" finally appeared, in three versions priced between ten and one hundred marks. A general edition in 1,200 copies, a deluxe edition, and a rarity in ten copies, a museum edition in blue morocco leather with original woodcuts and an original hand drawing or watercolor by each of the two editors. A flawless copy of this sought-after publication. - Roethel 141.