Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens

London: Hodder & Stoughton, 1910. Seventh Edition. Very Good. Publisher's red cloth binding stamped in gilt. All edges stained. Brown endpapers. Measuring 245 x 180mm and illustrated throughout. Some staining and rubbing to cloth; front signature professionally strengthened. Contemporary gift inscription to front endpaper: "Evelyn Demy. Xmas 1910." Internally pleasing and clean. Laid in is an early photographic image of the author with some notations to the verso.

Arthur Rackham was one of the great illustrators of the early 20th century, a period which is referred to as the "golden age" in British book design. His works were produced in both limited and mass market editions as there was a large market for ornately illustrated books before the First World War. Rackham used a unique style, thought to mix European and East Asian influences, that involved both pen and India Ink as well as watercolor. His work was displayed all over Europe - and received awards at International Exhibitions in Milan and Barcelona and Rackham would influence heavily many illustrators, especially those of children's books, who came after him. "Rackham's illustrations to Grimm, Hans Andersen or Poe show him at his most imaginative and observant of human nature, while his gnomes, fairies and gnarled anthropomorphic trees in Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens or A Midsummer Night's Dream represent his more fantastic side.... He was - and remains - a soloist in front of an orchestra, a player with the responsibility to interpret and add a personal lustre to great works with variations of infinite subtlety and grace" (Arthur Rackham: A Life). Very Good.