Books

First Rackham edition, most handsomely bound. The illustrations immediately established Rackham as the leading illustrator of lavishly produced gift books in the Edwardian era. In March 1905 the original watercolours were exhibited at Leicester Galleries, attracting the attention of J. M. Barrie, who then commissioned Rackham's next book, Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens (1906). Quarto. Finely bound by The Chelsea Bindery in full dark green morocco, titles and decoration to spine gilt, raised bands, single rule to boards gilt, pictorial title block to front board gilt, inner dentelles gilt, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. With 51 tipped in colour plates as issued, captioned tissues, bound in at the back. A few small indentation marks to back board, light fold line to first plate, occasional foxing to tissue guards but not affecting the plates, overall an excellent copy.

Rip Van Winkle is a short story by the American author Washington Irving, published in 1819 as part of The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent. The story is set in New York's Catskill Mountains and follows Rip Van Winkle, a Dutch American villager who falls asleep before the American Revolution and wakes up twenty years later to a very different world. His disappearance and return are met with incredulity by those around him. This tale is known for its themes of change and continuity, the American past, and individualism.