I have been in the rare and antiquarian book business for over forty years; my family has been in the rare books business since 1876. Rare books are in my blood.
Wind in the Willows, The
London: Methuen Children's Books, 1971. Item #06567
A Signed Shepard Masterpiece
One of Only 250 Copies - A Charming Postscript to Grahame’s Classic
GRAHAME, Kenneth. The Wind in the Willows. Illustrated by Ernest H. Shepard. London: Methuen Children’s Books, [1971].
Limited to 250 numbered copies, signed by the illustrator Ernest H. Shepard (this copy no. 131).
Large octavo (9 1/4 x 6 inches; 235 x 153 mm.). [2, limitation leaf], [1–6], 7–261, [1] pp.
Publisher’s full green morocco, front cover pictorially stamped in gilt, spine with five raised bands decoratively tooled in blind and lettered in gilt in compartments, pictorial endpapers printed in color with the famous river-bank map, all edges gilt. Spine very slightly faded, otherwise a fine copy in the original green card slipcase.
A particularly handsome limited issue of The Wind in the Willows, here elevated by the timeless illustrations of Ernest H. Shepard, whose gentle line and unmistakable warmth have come to define the visual identity of Grahame’s Arcadian world. First published in 1908, the book has long stood as one of the central classics of English children’s literature - an episodic pastoral fantasy whose enduring appeal lies in its delicate balance of whimsy, nostalgia, and quiet philosophical reflection.
Shepard’s illustrations, originally created in the 1930s, achieve a rare harmony with Grahame’s prose, humanizing Mole, Rat, Toad, and Badger without diminishing their essential animal nature. His interpretation - at once affectionate and observant - has, for many readers, become inseparable from the text itself, much as his work for A.A. Milne fixed the imagery of another great Edwardian classic.
This finely produced 1971 signed limited edition represents one of the last opportunities to acquire Shepard’s autograph in a format worthy of his contribution to the golden age of illustration.
A delightful and highly collectible edition of a perennial favorite - uniting one of the great texts of children’s literature with the hand of its most beloved interpreter.
Price: $2,100.00