Irish Fairy Tales. by Rackham, Arthur - 1920

London: MacMillan.. Fine with no dust jacket. 1920. First Edition; First Printing. Leather Binding.. First edition. Rebound in dark green morocco with gilt edged raised bands. Gilt devices in the compartments & gilt title with maroon label & gilt date at base of spine. About fine overall. Features 16 beautiful Rackham full-color plates with captioned tissue guards plus additional b&w vignettes. ; 6 3/4" X 8 3/4"; 318 pages .

London: Macmillan and Co. Ltd,, 1920. Rackham broke new ground in the illustration of Irish literature" (Hamilton) Signed limited edition, one of 520 unnumbered copies signed by the artist, one of Rackham's significant successes. The Dublin Independent stated "Some of Mr Rackham's pictures are pure poems - they set you dreaming". James Hamilton notes that "in writing the stories, [James] Stephens had attempted to create an Irish equivalent of The Arabian Nights, his own poetic retelling of the stories which existed in the oral tradition and in Gaelic texts, but which had not appeared accessibly in print". In the opinion of his biographer, "Rackham rose to the occasion" (Hamilton, p. 128). Quarto. Original vellum-backed boards, spine and front cover lettered and decorated in gilt, top edge gilt, others untrimmed. Colour frontispiece and 15 mounted colour plates with captioned tissue guards, black and white illustrations in the text, all by Rackham. Extremities a little bumped and rubbed, some… Read More