Rip Van Winkle.

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. Tipped-in colour frontispiece and 49 similar plates with printed tissue guards, vignettes to title page and head- and tailpieces in black and white. Original green cloth, titles and pictorial decoration to spine and front board gilt, publisher's device to rear board in blind, dark green endpapers, all edges green. Spine sunned with ends lightly bumped, light spotting to tissue guards and earlier leaves. A very good copy indeed.