English Book-Illustration of Today by R.E.D. Sketchley

Early 1900s English Book-Illustration Spotlights Rising Star Rackham

Format: Green cloth binding with black and gold lettering (175 pages)

Size: 6 1⁄2 x 10 inches

Text: English Book-Illustration of Today by R.E.D. Sketchley, edited by Alfred Pollard

Rackham Content: Short article about his work + black & white illustration from Grimms Fairy Tales + 14-book bibliography of his works up to September 1901

Publisher: Kegan, Paul, Trench, Trubner and Co. Ltd. (London)

Publication Date: 1903

Released in 1903 when Arthur Rackham’s fame was rapidly rising, English Book-Illustration of Today stands as an early career overview spotlighting Britain’s leading illustrators elevating publisher offerings into high art. Edited by prominent bibliophile Alfred Pollard, this visual survey includes a focus article on Rackham’s nascent atmospheric fantasy approach along with an atmospheric fairy scene sample from his acclaimed 1900 English translation of Grimms’ tales.

While profiling other noteworthy artists propelling the Golden Age of Illustration between 1880-1920, a 14-book bibliography of Rackham’s work to 1901 reinforces his prominence. As public and publisher fixation on book art reached new heights, this piece helped chronicle Rackham’s swift ascendance into the upper echelon of British visual storytellers just before reaching legend status. For collectors, it signals another benchmark documenting his kingdom-capturing visions.

From The English Book-Illustration of Today by R.E.D. Sketchley

Mr. Arthur Rackham’s illustrations to ‘Two Old Ladies, Two Foolish Fairies, and a Tom-Cat’ (1897), and to ‘The Zankiwank and the Bletherwitch’ show inspiriting talent for nursery extravaganza. The children, whirled from reality into a phantasmagoria of adventure, are deftly and happily drawn, the fairies have fairy grace, and the rout of hobgoblins and grotesques fill their parts. Drawing real animals, Mr. Rackham is equally quick to note what is characteristic, and his facility in realizing fact and magic finds expression in the illustrations to ‘Grimm’s Fairy Tales’ (1900). This is the most important work of Mr. Rackham as a child’s illustrator, and if the drawings are somewhat calculated to impress the horrid horror of witches and forest enchantments on uneasy minds, the charm of princesses and peasant maids, the sagacious humour of talking animals and the grotesque enlivenment of cobolds and gnomes are no less vividly represented. That Mr. Rackham admires Mr. E. J. Sullivan’s scheme of decorative black-and-white is evident in these drawings, but not to the detriment of their inventive worth.

Arthur Rackham.

The Dolly Dialogues. Anthony Hope. 8o. (‘Westminster Gazette,’ 1894.) 4 f. p.

Sunrise-Land. Mrs. Alfred Berlyn. 8o. (Jarrold, 1894.) 136 illust. (2 f. p.)

Tales of a Traveller. Washington Irving. 2 vols. 4o. (Putman, 1895. Buckthorne edition.) 25 illust., with borders and initials. 5 photogravures by Arthur Rackham.

The Sketch Book. Washington Irving. 2 vols. 4o. (Putman, 1895. Van Tassel edition.) 32 illust., with others. Borders. 4 photogravures by Arthur Rackham.

The Money Spinner and other Character Notes. Henry Seton Merriman and S. G. Tallintyre. 8o. (Smith, Elder, 1896.) 12 f. p.

The Zankiwank and the Bletherwitch. S. J. Adair Fitzgerald. 8o. (Dent, 1896.) 41 illust. (17 f. p.)

Two Old Ladies, Two Foolish Fairies and a Tom Cat. Maggie Browne. 8o. (Cassell, 1897.) 23 illust. (14 f. p., 4 in colours.)

Charles O’Malley. Charles Lever. 8o. (Service and Paton, 1897.) 16 f. p.

The Grey Lady. Henry Seton Merriman. 8o. (Smith, Elder, 1897.) 12 f. p.

Evelina. Frances Burney. 8o. (Newnes, 1898.) 16 f. p.

The Ingoldsby Legends. H. R. Barham. 8o. (Dent, 1898.) 102 illust. (40 f. p.) 12 printed in colours.

Feats on the Fjords. Harriet Martineau. 8o. (Dent, 1899. Temple Classics for Young People.) 12 f. p.

Tales from Shakespeare. Charles and Mary Lamb. 8o. (Dent, 1899. Temple Classics for Young People.) 12 f. p.

Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm. Translated by Mrs. Edgar Lucas. 8o. (Freemantle, 1900.) 102 illust. (32 f. p., in colours.)

English Book-Illustration of Today by R.E.D. Sketchley