Compleat Angler or The Contemplative Man’s Recreation, The
London: George G. Harrap & Co., 1931. Item #02761
"I Envy No Body But Him, And Him Only, That Catches More Fish Than I Do"
[RACKHAM, Arthur, illustrator]. WALTON, Izaak. The Compleat Angler or The Contemplative Man’s Recreation. Being a Discourse of Rivers, Fishponds, Fish and Fishing not unworthy the Perusal of most Anglers. Illustrated by Arthur Rackham. London: George G. Harrap & Co., [1931].
Limited to 775 numbered copies (this copy being No. 265), signed by the artist. Quarto (10 5/16 x 7 13/16 inches; 263 x 198 mm.). 223, [1] pp. Twelve color plates, with descriptive tissue guards, and twenty-five drawings in black and white. Title printed in green and black.
Publisher's full vellum over boards. Front cover lettered in gilt within a gilt triple-rule border, spine pictorially stamped and lettered in gilt with three gilt rules at top and bottom of spine. Top edge gilt, others uncut. Pictorial endpapers in reddish brown and white. In the original publisher’s? white cardboard box. Spine very slightly creased otherwise a fine copy.
A distinguished late commission that allowed Rackham to engage one of the most enduring and contemplative works of English prose. First published in 1653, Walton’s Compleat Angler is at once a practical manual, pastoral meditation, and celebration of friendship and the natural world. Rackham’s illustrations - restrained, atmospheric, and quietly lyrical - perfectly suit the book’s reflective tone, marking a notable departure from the densely fantastical manner of his Edwardian fairy books.
"No fewer than six plates have landscape backgrounds, plates which should remind us of Rackham's very serious reputation as a landscape painter, with a fine vision of natural forms" (Gettings, Arthur Rackham, p. 159).
Latimore & Haskell, pp. 66-67. Riall, p. 175.
Price: $1,750.00