Irish Fairy Tales.

Signed limited edition, one of 520 unnumbered copies signed by the artist. 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). Riall, p. 138. James Hamilton, Arthur Rackham: A Life with Illustration, 1990. Quarto. Mounted colour frontispiece and illustrated title page with captioned tissue guard, 15 mounted colour plates with captioned tissue guards, black and white in-text illustrations, all by Rackham. Original quarter vellum, spine and front cover lettered and decorated in gilt, buff board sides, top edge gilt, others untrimmed, some leaves unopened. Unsigned ex-libris bookplate. Spine mildly darkened, a little soiling to binding, horizontal surface scratch along rear cover, slight insect wear to edges, foxing to endpapers, else clean overall. A very good copy. …