Fairy Tales by Hans Christian Andersen, Arthur Rackham. Signed Limited Edition, 1932. London: George G. Harrap & Co., Ltd. 1932.
Presented by Pom Harrington, owner of Peter Harrington Rare Books.
Quarto (263 × 194 mm). Deluxe binding of green full morocco by Sangorski and Sutcliffe, spine lettered and panelled in gilt, sides bordered in gilt with large gilt devices at corners designed by Rackham, marbled endpapers, top edge gilt, others uncut. In the original card slipcase with printed label numbered by hand “9”. Frontispiece and 11 full page plates by Arthur Rackham printed in full colour, with captioned tissue guards; uncoloured illustrations in text, of which 9 are full page; title page in black and brown. Spine even faded as often with this shade of green, else a fine copy.
Signed limited edition, special issue. The book is signed on the limitation page by Rackham and opposite is a humorous original ink and watercolour image, “An Old Wife’s Tale”, signed in full by the artist and dated 1932. This is one of the nine special copies commissioned by Harrap, with the deluxe leather binding and an original watercolour, of which eight were for sale. The publisher has added a manuscript note to that effect on the limitation page. The entire edition was limited to 525 copies, of which 500 were for sale. Each of the nine watercolours depicts a different scene. Describing his artistic method for these “specials”, Rackham pointed out that, “my little sketches must inevitably be of a light hearted or joking nature… They have to be spontaneous and free handed. The nature of the paper is such that there can be no preparatory drawing and no alterations”.
This book was sold.
