Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland
William Heinemann, 1907.
First Rackham edition. Edition de Luxe, one of 1100 copies printed on handmade paper. Large 4to. Publisher's full white buckram, with gilt titles and vignettes. Top edge gilt, others uncut. Housed in publisher's original card slipcase. Pictorial endpapers. Thirteen colour plates mounted onto brown art paper and protected by captioned tissue guards. In addition there are lots of charming line drawings. A very near fine, clean copy, with just a hint of toning to the spine and the odd spot to contents, but exceptionally clean by the standards of this book. The book protected by the slightly edge worn original slipcase.
The story of Alice had a special resonance with Rackham, as he wrote, "My experiences of the book are absolutely delightful... it was read aloud to us (3 about the same age, 11, 10, 9) sat by my father & and at once became a household word... It is possible that my father's appreciation of it helped us children too. It was read with full dramatic effect, the songs sung and so forth".
Certainly Rackham's Alice is beautifully drawn, fresh faced and rosy-cheeked, her sense of wonder clearly apparent. Carroll's fantasy world is perfectly suited to Rackham's humour and vivid imagination, making this a most appealing interpretation of Alice.
Stock ID: 45289
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