B A U M A N R A R E B O O K S H O L I D A Y G I F T S * 2 0 2 3 18 SIGNED LIMITED EDITION OF RACKHAM'S THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS 18. MOORE, Clement C. The Night Before Christmas. Illustrated by Arthur Rackham. London: George C. Harrap, (1931). Octavo, original gilt-stamped limp vellum, red and white pictorial endpapers, top edge gilt, uncut, custom clamshell box. $4200 Signed limited first edition, number 52 of only 275 copies printed for England (out of a total edition of 550 copies), with four color plates and 17 in-text line cuts, signed by Arthur Rackham, in publisher’s vellum. “One of the world’s most widely read poems… ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas’ recast St. Nicholas as a cheerful, rosy-cheeked elf and established Christmas as a time for giving gifts to children” (Carnegie Mellon University). For this edition of the Yuletide classic, Rackham created four full-color illustrations, 17 drawings in black and white, and red and white pictorial endpapers. Title page printed in red and black. Without original glassine and cardboard box. Only a bit of soiling to original vellum, less than often seen. A near-fine copy.
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