"HIS TALENT FOR THE MACABRE AND THE INVENTIVE, THE FANTASTIC AND THE KNOCKABOUT COMIC": THE INGOLDSBY LEGENDS, ILLUSTRATED AND SIGNED BY RACKHAM

(RACKHAM, Arthur) [BARHAM, Richard Harris] INGOLDSBY, Thomas. The Ingoldsby Legends Or Mirth & Marvels. Illustrated by Arthur Rackham. London: J.M. Dent; New York: E. P. Dutton, 1907. Quarto, original full gilt-stamped vellum, pictorial endpapers, top edge gilt, uncut and unopened, later brown silk ties. Housed in a custom slipcase. $2800.

Signed limited large-paper edition, number 299 of only 560 copies signed by illustrator Arthur Rackham, with 24 mounted color illustrations, 12 full-page tinted illustrations and 66 black-and-white in-text illustrations.

"Rackham's fanciful imagination gave his illustrations instant recognition, and his dedication to illustration kept him in the public eye for 30 years" (Hodnett, 233). "The 'gift' book was really something for a child to receive. They were heavy and thick, with beautifully blocked covers,… ornamental headbands and colored endpapers. Inside there would be color plates, tipped-on to cartridge mounts and protected with tissue. These books were precious objects, to be looked at with awe and handled with care" (Lewis, 186). Rackham first tackled The Ingoldsby Legends in 1898. "Their episodic nature and superficial, rollicking humor were well suited to Rackham's talents, presenting him with endless opportunities to exercise his talent for the macabre and the inventive, the fantastic and the knockabout comic" (Hamilton, 49). Rackham's style would influence a generation of children and artists. For this 1907 signed limited edition, Rackham produced several additional illustrations and improved a number of existing ones. Latimore & Haskell, 30. Riall, 83. Hudson, 166.

Foxing to half title and title page; occasional light marginal embrowning. Slight soiling to original vellum binding, gilt bright. A handsome volume with exceptional illustrations.