Christina Rossetti’s Vision Enchanted: Rackham’s Goblin Market

Arthur Rackham’s illustrated edition of Christina Rossetti’s Goblin Market represents one of the most extraordinary and sought-after works in the artist’s celebrated career. Published in 1933 by George G. Harrap & Co. in London and J. B. Lippincott in Philadelphia, this volume appeared late in Rackham’s life—he would die just six years later—yet it stands among his most accomplished and haunting achievements . The collaboration joined one of Victorian poetry’s most enigmatic works with the preeminent illustrator of the Edwardian Golden Age, yielding a volume of singular beauty and psychological depth.

Rossetti’s Goblin Market, first published in 1862, tells the story of two sisters, Laura and Lizzie, who encounter the seductive calls of goblin merchants hawking their forbidden fruit. Laura succumbs to temptation, purchasing the fruit with a lock of her golden hair and a tear, while Lizzie resists. Laura’s subsequent decline—wasting away as she yearns for more fruit—and Lizzie’s heroic return to the goblins to secure the antidote for her sister create a narrative rich with allegorical resonance. The poem has been interpreted variously as a Christian parable of temptation and redemption, a commentary on Victorian sexual politics, and a celebration of sisterly devotion. Its lush, rhythmic language and unsettling imagery have secured its place as a masterpiece of Victorian literature.

Rackham’s illustrations for the volume comprise four full-page color plates, each protected by a captioned tissue guard, alongside numerous pen-and-ink drawings dispersed throughout the text . The original watercolors, now housed in the collection of the Huntington Library in San Marino, California, represent the artist’s final major series of fairy paintings and rank among the finest work of his late career .

The color plates reveal Rackham’s mature style at its most evocative. The goblin merchants are rendered as grotesque, animalistic figures—some with the faces of beasts, others with misshapen forms—crawling and capering through the moonlit woods. Their menace is conveyed not through overt violence but through insinuation: the way they crowd close to Laura, their grasping hands reaching for her, their faces half-hidden in shadow. The frontispiece, depicting the moment when Lizzie confronts the goblins, captures the scene’s dramatic tension with remarkable intensity—Lizzie’s pale figure standing firm against a press of monstrous forms, her penny clutched in her hand as they assault her with their fruits.

Equally remarkable are Rackham’s depictions of the sisters. Laura’s descent is rendered with subtlety: in early plates she appears luminous and innocent, while later images show her hollow-cheeked and languid, her golden hair dulled. Lizzie emerges as a figure of quiet heroism, her determination conveyed through posture and expression rather than grand gesture. The landscapes throughout are rendered in Rackham’s characteristic palette of deep greens, browns, and golds, creating an atmosphere of ancient woodland imbued with both beauty and menace.

The pen-and-ink drawings scattered throughout demonstrate Rackham’s extraordinary facility with line. These smaller illustrations capture moments from the poem with economy and grace—the goblins calling their wares, Laura straining to hear their voices, the sisters’ eventual reunion and redemption. Each drawing extends the visual narrative, creating a seamless integration of image and text.

The first edition reflects the high production values associated with Harrap’s deluxe illustrated volumes. The trade edition was bound inpictorial wrappers for the English edition and red cloth with pictorial paste-on for the US edition, while the limited edition—numbering just 410 copies signed by Rackham—was bound in vellum.

Goblin Market stands as Rackham’s final major illustrated work, a fitting culmination to a career devoted to bringing the realms of fairy tale and poetry into vivid visual being. Together, Rossetti’s haunting verse and Rackham’s masterful images create a volume of enduring power—a testament to the extraordinary possibilities that emerge when two visionary artists meet across the pages of a book.

Recommended for collectors and readers:

• Undine (1909), illustrated by Arthur Rackham – A romantic fairy tale with themes of water spirits and doomed love, paired with luminous Rackham artwork.
• Christina Rossetti’s Poems (1910), illustrated by Florence Harrisson – For those interested in her wider lyrical and devotional works.
• The Book of Fairy Poetry (1920), illustrated by Warwick Goble – A beautifully curated anthology with a similarly magical and romantic aesthetic.

Art Gallery: Arthur Rackham – Goblin Market