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× 314 mm). Pin holes at corners below mount, some light toning to margins; fine and unfaded. £3,750 [155008] 146 RACKHAM, Arthur (illus.); GRAHAME, Kenneth. The Wind in the Willows. London: Methuen & Co. Ltd, 1951 THE 100TH EDITION OF GRAHAME’S CLASSIC, THE FIRST WITH ILLUSTRATIONS BY RACKHAM Deluxe edition, number 324 of 500 copies. This is the hundredth edition of Grahame’s timeless classic, which was originally published in 1908 with just a frontispiece by Graham Robertson. Rackham’s illustrations for the text first appeared in the Limited Editions Club edition of 1940; it was the last work he illustrated. Tall octavo. Original full white calf, lettering to spine in gilt, top edge gilt, other edges untrimmed. With the original publisher’s slipcase with printed label on front board. Colour frontispiece and 11 colour plates mounted on captioned leaves, black and white illustrations in the text, all by Arthur Rackham. Book label to front pastedown. Consistent light soiling to binding, as usual, light browning to free endpapers; a very good and internally fresh copy. Slipcase slightly soiled and worn at extremities. ¶ Riall, p. 200. £2,250 [153895]
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144 PYNCHON, Thomas. Gravity’s Rainbow. New York: The Viking Press, 1973 ARGUABLY THE MOST IMPORTANT LITERARY TEXT SINCE ULYSSES First edition. This work, a postmodern epic, won the 1973 US National Book Award for Fiction and is widely considered Pynchon’s masterpiece. It was selected by the jury for the 1974 Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, but was rejected by the Pulitzer Advisory Board due to its controversial content. Consequently, no prize for fiction was awarded that year. Its impact was not dampened by this rejection and it has since been hailed as “both one of the great historical novels of our time and arguably the most important literary text since Ulysses ” (Tanner, p. 75). Octavo. Original orange boards, spine lettered in red, rainbow blocked in blind on front board, top edge orange. With dust jacket. Housed in custom orange and blue flat- backed cloth box. Photographic title page. Trivial marks to lower edges, a touch of foxing to top edge and endpapers. A near-fine copy, bright and sharp, in the very sharp jacket, not price-clipped, light sunning to spine panel, edges of flaps a touch toned and foxed, a few spots of foxing to verso, one tip nicked, spots of rubbing to two tips and head of spine panel, overall a bright and clean example. ¶ Tony Tanner, Thomas Pynchon , 1982. £2,000 [155090]
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145 RACKHAM, Arthur. “Through a Glass Lightly”. 1897 AN ORIGINAL EARLY DRAWING FOR A TITLE PAGE Rackham’s illustrated title page for Through a Glass Lightly , with both lettering and illustration in different colours, is an early example of the artist’s work. Through a Glass Lightly (sub-titled the “Confession of a Reluctant Water Drinker”) was written by Thomas Tylson Greg and published in 1897. The book comprises a collection of essays previously published in the Pall Mall Gazette and the National Observer . The text was republished in 2016 as part of the London Library’s “Found on the shelves” series. Latimore and Haskell note that there are no illustrations in the text of the book. Original drawing (268 × 160 mm) on paper laid down to board (317 × 201 mm), pen and ink in red and black with gouache corrections, signed “ARackham” lower right of illustration, mounted, framed, and glazed (framed size 433
All items are fully described and photographed at peterharrington.co.uk
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