Arthur Rackham Takes Aim at Shooting Sports History

Beyond Arthur Rackham’s occasional illustrations, Shooting sports historian Alexander Innes Shand assembled this hunting compendium drawing from his own aristocratic indulgences. As a barrister born in 1832 at Scotland’s Fettercairn Estate, Shand enjoyed privilege permitting recreational country activities even amidst family financial tumults. Eventually forsaking law for journalism, he contributed prolifically to Conservative publications like Blackwood’s Magazine while remaining dedicated to rural pastimes.

Bag this overlooked trophy melding whimsy and hardship before concessions call time!

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1902 British hunting history Shootings with Arthur Rackham peer surveying bloodsports turning point.

eatures Rackham’s sylvan chapter spirits amid conserved Victorian game fields
Granular global analysis from Scottish lawyer and country sports journalist
A fascinating courtyard nexus between Rackham’s nature affinity and shooting tradition tensions
Essential for studied fans of Rackham, British field sports, or extinction fables

With frequent expeditions across Europe informed by landowner relatives and sporting friends, Shand took particular interest in game fowl habits. As an erstwhile hunter well-connected amid 19th century publishing circles, Shand examines issues like overharvesting certain British bird species. Rackham’s etheral watercolors channel vanishing wilderness from Shand’s youth before industrialization dominated landscapes.

While supporting traditional field sports, Shand acknowledges conservation necessity to prevent their extinction – fitting for Rackham’s emblem enhancements surveying the tension between honoring heritage and serving posterity. As the era’s definitive illustrator linking fantasy with nature appreciation, Rackham proves an able partner for Shand assessing preservation of Earth’s marvels alongside genteel amusements.

Limited Edition:

Cream vellum binding with gilt decorative stamping (352 pages)
Limited to 150 numbered sets

Trade Editions:

Available in green or blue cloth versions (see: Wild Life in Hampshire Highlands)

Size (Limited Edition): 5 3⁄4 x 9 inches

Series: Volume in 9 volume Haddon Hall Library set

Text: Shooting by Alexander Innes Shand

Illustrations: Chapter heads, tailpieces, endpapers by Arthur Rackham; full page illustrations by unnamed artists

Publisher: J.M. Dent & Co. (London)

Publication Date: 1902

Summary: As part of publisher J.M. Dent’s decorated 9 volume Haddon Hall Library set, Arthur Rackham supplied sylvan endpapers and graceful grouse framing chapter headings for Shooting – British sportsman and journalist Alexander Innes Shand’s 1902 historical survey of fowling and stalking traditions. Simultaneously released in a cream vellum limited edition of 150 hand-numbered copies alongside simpler cloth versions, Rackham nods to quarry and controversy surrounding bloodsports amidst Shand’s global analysis from ancient Aristotle to pheasant surplus circa 1900.

Though lacking leading Rackham imagery, his vignettes offer charming perspective on our complex bounty-and-conscience relationship with wilderness through sighting lenses soon to fixate upon fantasy terrains. For Rackham devotees, his overlooked contributions provide intrigue into rarely spotted big game studies.