Books

First Rackham edition. 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. Original green cloth, titles and illustration of Rip Van Winkle to front board gilt, titles to spine gilt. 51 mounted colour plates by Rackham and captioned tissues bound as issued at the back of the book. Bookplate to pastedown, foxing to half title and first few leaves otherwise a bright copy, a little rubbed to extremities.

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.