23.2 x 18.5 cm. 66 pages. Original half-vellum binding with red cover title and gilt head edge. One of 65 copies of the special edition B, printed from lightly steeled plates onto old Dutch laid paper. The first etching was signed by Rudolf Schlichter, the following 60 monogrammed. "Off all editions of the Ballad it is the most profusely illustrated work. Each page is decorated with an etched headpiece. The large number of illustrations has enabled the artist to give artistic expression to all the situations in the Ballad, from the murder to the purification of the malefactor" (Abraham Horodisch). Rudolf Schlichter (1890-1955) is considered an important representative of New Objectivity; he loved the eccentric and the anti-bourgeois. In 1920, he participated in the first Dada fair. His pig-faced doll in a uniform led to charges of insulting the Reichswehr against Rudolf Schlichter, George Grosz, Wieland Herzfelde, John Heartfield, and gallery owner Otto Burchard, and ultimately to the closure of the exhibition. Immaculately preserved.