The Illustration of The Knight in the Panther's Skin (Vepkhist'q'aosnis dasurateba). Two volumes: Miniatures of the 16th-18th Centuries ; Illustrations of the 19th-20th Centuries. First edition, 1966. In Georgian.

ვეფხისტყაოსნის დასურათება : მინიატურები, შესრულებული XVI-XVIII საუკუნეებში ; ილუსტრაციები, შესრულებული XIX-XX საუკუნეებში / შედგენილი და მხატვრულად გაფორმებული გიორგი გორდელაძის მიერ ; I წიგნის შესავალი წერილი და რედაქტორი შალვა ამირანაშვილი ; II წიგნის შესავალი წერილი მიხეილ ქვლივიძისა. გამოცემა პირველი.
თბილისი : საბჭოთა საქართველო, 1966 (ფერადი ბეჭდვის სტამბა). 2 წიგნი ; 27 სმ.
I წიგნი: 32 გვერდი, 80 ფურცელი ილუსტრაცია. II წიგნი: 12 გვერდი, 106 ფურცელი ილუსტრაცია.
მაგარი ყდა, გიორგი გორდელაძის გაფორმებით. ტირაჟი 20 000 ც. თითო წიგნზე. სუპერ-გარეკანი თანდართული.
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Illustrating The Knight in the Panther's Skin: Miniatures of the 16th-18th Centuries ; Illustrations of the 19th-20th Centuries / compiled and artistically designed by Giorgi Gordeladze ; vol. I introduction and editor Shalva Amiranashvili ; vol. II introduction by Mikheil Kvlividze. First edition.
Tbilisi : "Sabchota Sakartvelo" Publishing House, 1966 (Color Printing Press). 2 volumes ; 27 cm.
Vol. I: 32 pp., 80 plates. Vol. II: 12 pp., 106 plates.
Publisher's cloth hardcovers designed by Gordeladze. Print run of 20,000 copies each. Original dust jackets present.
Binding very good: clean. Dust jackets fair: worn, torn edges, staining. Text blocks very good: firm, clean.

A two-volume pictorial history of the illustration of Shota Rustaveli's The Knight in the Panther's Skin, the twelfth-century national epic of Georgia, issued in the jubilee year of 1966 that was celebrated in many countries. Volume I reproduces in colour the miniatures from illuminated manuscripts of the poem executed in the sixteenth to eighteenth centuries, including portraits of Rustaveli and work by Mamuka Tavakarashvili, Begtabeg Taniashvili and anonymous artists. The most celebrated of these manuscripts is the 1646 copy by Mamuka Tavakarashvili. The volume opens with an introduction by Shalva Amiranashvili, the leading Georgian art historian of his day. Volume II turns to the illustration of the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. It brings together colour plates and line drawings by the Hungarian painter Mihály Zichy, whose late nineteenth-century drawings became the classic image of the poem, by Lado Gudiashvili and by other artists, with an introduction by Mikheil Kvlividze, author of two books on the illustration of the poem. Both volumes were compiled and designed by Giorgi Gordeladze (1912-1990), Honoured Artist of Georgia and long-time chief artist of the state publishing house Sakhelgami, whose stylised Georgian lettering and gilt-lettered cloth bindings give the set its distinctive look. Printed in Tbilisi in 20,000 copies of each volume, with Russian and English title pages, the album is not scarce, but sets that keep both original dust jackets are more desirable than single or jacketless volumes. It is a basic reference for the visual tradition of the Georgian national poem and appeals to collectors of Georgian art and book design, Rustaveli studies, Soviet-era illustrated albums and Caucasian manuscript art.