Some British Ballads.

4to, pp. 170; with 16 tipped-in colour plates mounted on grey paper (tissue guards) and numerous lithograph illustrations in the text; slight offset to title; a very good copy in full blue morocco, gilt to a panel design by Bayntun-Riviere (lower turn-in signed in gilt), ornamental cornerpieces, edges gilt, marbled endpapers.First trade edition, illustrated by Rackham, of these ballads sourced largely from Francis James Child's English and Scottish Popular Ballads, our copy in a handsome Bayntun-Riviere binding. Amongst them are the 'The Twa Corbies' (The Three Ravens) and 'Clerk Colvill'. The charming illustrations in the text are paired with ornaments incorporating botanical and zoological motifs, which accompany footnotes to the text. Rackham's sixteen magnificent colour illustrations depict 'a succession of fascinating heroines habited in quaint and picturesque costumes, amid surroundings which, though belonging to no definite place or period, are always appropriate and congruous. His heroes are hardly less charming than his heroines, and the scenes in which they are represented constitute a series of fascinating and delightful pictures . one must feel grateful to Mr Rackham for giving us the prettiest picture book of the season' (The Conoisseur LVI (1920), p. 53). There was also a de luxe edition limited to 575 copies signed by Rackham, and the book was reprinted by Heinemann in the same year. Hudson, p. 170; Latimore and Haskell, pp. 5051. Language: English. …