20.3 x 25.3 cm
Published: 2010
Reference: Norman Lindsay Etchings: Catalogue Raisonné (Odana Editions and Josef Lebovic Gallery, 2006, cat.202)
Two editions of this image, from the same plate, were issued. Norman etching the 1st Edition (above) which showed a female figure on the left. In this etching, Norman believed that the focus was in two places — both on the nude to the left and also to the centre where the Dream Dwarf commands the attention of the surrounding women. Norman felt that the focus should only be at the centre of the etching and so reworked the plate and changed the female on the left into a curtain.
Looking carefully at a print of the The Dream Merchant (2nd Edition), you can still see her necklace visible in the folds of the curtain. The Dream Merchant (2nd Edition) was published as a Facsimile Etching in 1997.
It is extremely hard to rework a plate in this manner but Norman considered his 2nd Edition worthy of publishing and so Rose printed fifty original etchings of this edition. An original etching of the 1st Edition is exceptionally rare as only six prints were pulled.