Arthur Rackham – Illustrations for Rip Van Winkle 1905

Arthur Rackham (1867 – 1939) was an English book illustrator.

Arthur Rackham is widely regarded as one of the leading illustrators from the ‘Golden Age’ of British book illustration which encompassed the years from 1900 until the start of the First World War. During that period, there was a strong market for high quality illustrated books which typically were given as Christmas gifts.

Many of Rackham’s books were produced in a deluxe limited edition, often vellum bound and sometimes signed, as well as a larger, less ornately bound quarto ‘trade’ edition. This was often followed by a more modestly presented octavo edition in subsequent years for particularly popular books. He was one of the most prolific and most loved illustrator of children’s book. Many of his work are still in print today.

Presenting the illustrations from the First edition of Rip Van Winkle. Published by William Heinemann, London 1905.

“Rip Van Winkle” is a short story by the American author Washington Irving, first published in 1819. It follows a Dutch-American villager in colonial America named Rip Van Winkle who falls asleep in the Catskill Mountains and wakes up 20 years later, having missed the American Revolution.

Other Arthur Rackham’s illustrated works available in our gallery: Rip Van Winkle, Tales of Mystery and Imagination, Book of Pictures, The Night Before Christmas, The Pied Piper of Hamelin, Midsummer’s Night Dream, Undine, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, Peter Pan in Kensington Garden, The Ingoldsby Legends, Grimm’s Fairy Tales.

Art Gallery: Arthur Rackham – Rip Van Winkle 1905