The Peter Pan Portfolio
Hodder & Stoughton, 1912.
First edition, number nine of a special issue of approximately twenty copies with each of the twelve plates signed by Rackham on the mount. Elephant folio (19 1/2 x 21 1/2 inches). Publisher's full vellum with gilt titles to upper cover and silk ties. Housed in publisher's original cloth box with printed paper onlay. Additionally signed by the publishers on the limitation page. Twelve full size plates mounted with gilt ruled borders. A fine copy, binding ties are loose and rather frayed, but the vellum is beautifully clean and bright. The publisher's box is in very good condition with a little wear to the paper onlay on the upper cover and some damp-staining to the lower cover. Plates bright and fresh. An exceptional survival.
Rackham's plates for Peter Pan originally appeared in 1906 in the form of a gift book with fifty Rackham plates. Partly to capitalise on the success of the stage production of Peter & Wendy, Hodder asked Rackham to select his favourite twelve of the fifty images in the 1906 Peter Pan to produce a collector's portfolio of plates. These plates were re-engraved to be the size of the original watercolours and produced to an extremely fine standard. An edition of 600 copies was planned, with numbers 1-100 to be bound in vellum with each plate signed by Rackham, however it would appear that Rackham baulked at signing his name 1200 times and the majority of vellum bound copies are unsigned. Latimore and Haskell in their 1936 bibliography of Arthur Rackham report that "Mr. Rackham advises that he signed only about twenty".
Without doubt, Rackham's grandest production and one of the rarest and most beautiful books of its type.
Stock ID: 30803
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