Books

Best Rackham edition, originally published in 1906. This edition is enlarged with a new frontispiece and seven full-page drawings that are not in the first edition. The plates were bound in sequence with the story for the first time. "Mr Barrie's touch of fantasy, homely but eerie too, is admirably reflected. Moreover, the pictures are simple, and are clearly and firmly drawn" (Saturday Review of Politics, Literature, Science and Art). "The delightful colour and black-and-white illustrations are Arthur Rackham at his best, and, perhaps, no other artist could have been so happy in his results... Mr Rackham's work is such that one is always finding charming little unexpected surprises in out-of-the-way corners of his pictures. These illustrations are not to be merely glanced at, but carefully studied to derive the full amount of pleasure from them" (The Bystander). Quarto (265 x 202 mm.) Finely bound in late 20th-century full green morocco by Bayntun-Riviere, spine lettered and decorated in gilt, raised bands, front cover decorated in gilt, floral dentelles in gilt, marbled endpapers, gilt edges. Colour frontispiece and 49 mounted colour plates with captioned tissue guards, black and white illustrations in the text, all by Rackham. Minor scratch to rear cover, minor splitting to front hinge, slight browning to free endpapers: a near-fine copy. The Bystander, 4 December 1912, p. 550; Saturday Review of Politics, Literature, Science and Art, 8 December 1912, Supplement, p. iv.

Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens is one of J.M. Barrie's works that features the character Peter Pan, offering a backstory to the beloved 'boy who wouldn't grow up.' Originally part of Barrie's book 'The Little White Bird' (1902), these chapters were later republished as a stand-alone story detailing Peter's adventures in London's famous Kensington Gardens. It's a tale of fantasy that explores themes of childhood innocence and escapism.