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.
Pied Piper of Hamelin, The
London: George G. Harrap & Co., Ltd., , 1934. Item #06603
Rackham at His Late Peak - The Pied Piper in Color and Line
A Striking Harrap Production in Original Wrappers and Dust Jacket
[RACKHAM, Arthur, illustrator]. BROWNING, Robert. The Pied Piper of Hamelin. London: George G. Harrap & Co., Ltd., [1934].
First trade edition. Octavo (8 5/8 x 5 5/8 inches; 218 x 143 mm.). 44, [1], [3, blank] pp. With four full-page color plates and fourteen black-and-white illustrations (including one double-page), all by Arthur Rackham.
Publisher’s original pictorial limp wrappers, top edge trimmed, others uncut. Pictorial endpapers. In the original color pictorial dust jacket, with a small, neatly executed repair at the head of the front fold. A very good copy.
A late and characteristically evocative work by Arthur Rackham, illustrating Robert Browning’s celebrated retelling of the Pied Piper legend. First published by Harrap in a limited edition the same year, this trade issue makes available Rackham’s illustrations - at once whimsical and sinister - to a broader audience.
Rackham’s interpretation of the tale is particularly well suited to his mature style: attenuated figures, muted yet expressive palette, and an undercurrent of unease that perfectly complements the darker implications of the story. The four color plates are among his later achievements, while the accompanying line drawings display the economy and confidence of an artist at the height of his powers.
Latimore & Haskell, p. 71. Riall, p. 186.
Price: $350.00