Arthur Rackham: An Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog, From The Vicar of Wakefield by Oliver Goldsmith

In 1929, George G. Harrap & Co, Ltd., published a splendid new edition of Oliver Goldsmith's The Vicar of Wakefield with illustrations by Arthur Rackham. With this volume, Harrap introduced the practice of setting aside some ten "special copies" with original drawings produced by Rackham that did not appear in the edition. Recently, Peter Harrington brough copy no. 2 to the market. Rackham's original drawing illustrates Goldsmith's An Elegy on the Death of a Mad Dog from Chapter 17. Priced at over $28,000 US, it found a buyer in less than a week.

Endpapers

Arthur Rackham
AbeBooks listing as priced on May 12, 2026

Sold!

Arthur Rackham
AbeBooks listing ended by May 17, 2026

https://www.abebooks.com/signed/Vicar-Wakefield-RACKHAM-Arthur-illus-GOLDSMITH/32444214230/bd?cm_ven=nl&cm_cat=trg&cm_pla=want_CM&ref_=pe_aep_AEP_wants_buyer-wants&cm_ite=viewbook_high

Arthur Rackham
AbeBooks item description

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Alice's Adventures in Wonderland Illustrated by Arthur Rackham, No. 496/1130

Peter Harrington Antiquarian Bookseller  of London offers a rare copy of the 1907 edition of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll, illustrated by Arthur Rackham. It is copy no. 496 of the limited edition of 1130, signed by Rackham who added a small drawing of the Mad Hatter in profile.

Arthur Rackham
AbeBooks listing accessed February 20, 2026

https://www.abebooks.com/signed-first-edition/Alices-Adventures-Wonderland-RACKHAM-Arthur-illus/32394452246/bd?cm_ven=nl&cm_cat=trg&cm_pla=want_CM&ref_=pe_aep_AEP_wants_buyer-wants&cm_ite=viewbook

https://wise.com/us/currency-converter/usd-to-gbp-rate

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Arthur Rackham: The Letter

Peter Harrington of London offers a beautiful illustration created by Arthur Rackham for the American market between 1922 and 1925. The image, titled The Letter, is one of thirty he created to advertise Cashmere Bouquet, "the aristocrat of toilet soaps," for Colgate & Co. It's available for 37,500 GBP.

Arthur Rackham
AbeBooks listing accessed August 16, 2023

https://www.abebooks.com/signed/Letter-RACKHAM-Arthur-1922/31568931884/bd?cm_ven=nl&cm_cat=trg&cm_pla=want_CM&ref_=pe_aep_AEP_wants_buyer-wants&cm_ite=viewbook

Note:  I am unable to find this artwork by Arthur Rackham in a published Cashmere Bouquet Soap advertisement and neither is Peter Harrington. Naturally, I'd like to hear from anyone who comes across it.

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Best Copy: Ralph Steadman's Animal Farm by George Orwell

Ralph Steadman, who can illustrate damn near anything, created a pictorial edition of George Orwell's Animal Farm in 1995 to celebrate the book's fiftieth anniversary. In June, Peter Harrington of London offered a signed and dated copy of the reissued classic with an original sketch of an Orwellian oinker. It is not signed to anyone in particular. The volume has subsequently been sold for somewhere in the neighborhood of 980 GBP.

Ralph Steadman

https://www.abebooks.com/signed-first-edition/Animal-Farm-Fairy-Story-STEADMAN-Ralph/31525122365/bd?cm_ven=nl&cm_cat=trg&cm_pla=want_CM&ref_=pe_aep_AEP_wants_buyer-wants&cm_ite=readmore_high

Note:  To be clear, there's nothing remotely scientific about my new term Best Copy; it's completely subjective. This is indeed the best copy of Animal Farm I've come across, but I'm hardly familiar with what else might be out there. If readers wish to submit copies of Ralph Steadman's Animal Farm that are as good as or better than the one here, I'll entertain posting them.

August 10, 2023 Update:  Right out of the gate, contributor Scott Burns produces an even more superior pig. I mean, all animals are equal, but some are more equal than others.

Image courtesy Scott Burns

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W. Heath Robinson: It Was Snowing Horribly from Beauty and the Beast

Published in 1921, W. Heath Robinson's original book illustration It Was Snowing Horribly appeared in the book Charles Perrault's Old-Time Stories. The black-and-white illustration shows a traveler on horseback, seen from behind. He has lost his way in a blizzard. Robinson shows us the vast power of the conditions he faces. The scene is from "Beauty and the Beast" even though it is not actually a Perrault story.

W. Heath Robinson
AbeBooks listing accessed June 9, 2023

https://www.abebooks.com/signed/Snowing-Horribly-ROBINSON-W-Heath-1921/31525126159/bd?cm_ven=nl&cm_cat=trg&cm_pla=want_CM&ref_=pe_aep_AEP_wants_buyer-wants&cm_ite=readmore

https://www.google.com/...

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Arthur Rackham: "And Filled All the Stockings"

He spoke not a word, but went straight to his work,
And filled all the stockings; then turned with a jerk,
And laying his finger aside of his nose,
And giving a nod, up the chimney he rose;

—Clement Clarke Moore

"A Visit from St. Nicholas"

Arthur Rackham's original illustration for the famous holiday poem depicts Santa Claus—or Father Christmas to the British—filling the stockings with toys. The artist uses shadows with bold diagonals and some energetic line work to ensure the image is anything but static. This is the artwork to one of the four color plates from Rackham's 1931 edition of Clement Clarke Moore's "A Visit from St. Nicholas," or, as the book is more familiarly titled, The Night Before Christmas. The art is available for 50,000 GBP.

Arthur Rackham
AbeBooks listing accessed December 14, 2022

https://www.abebooks.com/signed/Filled-Stockings-RACKHAM-Arthur-illus-MOORE/31307611911/bd?cm_ven=nl&cm_cat=trg&cm_pla=want_CM&cm_ite=viewbook_low

04175

Quentin Blake: A Cockatoo

London bookseller Peter Harrington offers an original drawing of a cockatoo by Quentin Blake. It was created for the Education Gambia charity auction in 2010. At this writing, it remains available for 2,750 GBP.

Verso

Quentin Blake
Peter Harrington listing accessed November 30, 2022

https://www.peterharrington.co.uk/cockatoo-159257.html

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