The Allies' Fairy Book (Signed limited edition)

London: William Heinemann, 1916. First edition. Near Fine. Edition deluxe, number 173 of 525 numbered copies signed by the artist. A Near Fine copy. Quarto (9 11/16 x 7 3/8 inches; 246 x 187 mm.). xxii, 121, [1], [4, blank] pp. Twelve color plates mounted on heavy brown paper, with descriptive tissue guards printed in red, and twenty-four drawings in black and white. Pp. 67/68 with small marginal paper fault. Publisher's blue buckram, front cover and spine pictorially stamped and lettered in gilt, decorative end-papers, top edge gilt, others uncut. Spine a little rubbed and faded. Housed in a fleece-lined, blue cloth slipcase.

A fascinating (truncated) relic of WWI, The Allies Fairy Books, was a celebration of international cooperation between European governments in the face of conflict. Given the harsh realities of war and the hopeful spirit of the production, Rackham departed from his usual gothic style and avoided violent scenes, instead composing images that “thrill and inspire” (Hamilton). "When The Allies' Fairy Book was published, [Edmund] Gosse wrote to Rackham (6th November 1916): 'Will you think me impertinent if I tell you how beautiful I think your illustrations... their variety, and ingenuity, and the delicacy of your fancy, and the romantic ardour of your mind, were never so humble a degree - in a work so charming'" (Hudson).

Arthur Rackham (1867-1939) is perhaps the most acclaimed and influential illustrator of the Golden Age of Illustration. A prolific artist even from his youth, Rackham got his start as an illustrator working for the Westminster Budget Newspaper (1892). Over the next few years, he took on more and more commissions for children’s books, hitting his career high in the first three decades of the twentieth century. Rackham turned his imaginative pen to every classic—from Shakespeare to Dickens to Poe.

The tales, from their nation of origin, include:

English: Jack the Giant-Killer
Scottish: The Battle of the Birds
Welsh: Lludd and Llevelys
Irish: Guleesh
French: The Sleeping Beauty
Italian: Cesarino and The Dragon
Portuguese: What Came of Picking Flowers
Japanese: The Adventures of Little Peachling, The Fox's Wedding and The Tongue-cut Sparrow
Russian: Frost
Serbian: The Golden Apple-tree and The Nine Pea Hens
Belgium: The Last Adventure of Thyl Ulenspiegel

Latimore and Haskell, pp. 45-46. Riall, p. 128. Near Fine. (Inventory #: 6357)