first edition
1901 · London and Edinburgh
by [Rackham, Arthur] Kenyon, Charles Richard
London and Edinburgh: W. & R. Chambers, 1901. First edition. Original orange cloth, pictorially decorated on the front cover and spine in yellow, black and white and lettered in gilt. Dark blue coated endpapers. Minor rubbing to lower corners, spine very slightly cocked. Octavo. (7 5/16 x 5 1/4 inches; 187 x 133 mm.). 305, [1] blank, [4] advertisements, 32. Six monochrome plates. An excellent copy of a very scarce and early Rackham title.
According to Richard Riall, the first issue was "bound in light blue cloth with pictorial stamping on the cover and spine in yellow, black and white. The cover design is taken from an illustration [plate facing page 203] in the book. Gold lettering on the cover and spine. 305 numbered pages 125 x 180 and 32 pages of advertisements at the back of the book. 6 full-page illustrations in half-tone by Rackham. Light yellow end-papers matching the yellow of the cover design." Riall then goes on to say "Secondary bindings: In coral-pink cloth, with the same date on the title page and the pictorial stamping. Has grey end-papers. Also in orange cloth with dark blue end-papers, and a slightly larger size, 130 x 185" (Riall). Our copy is in the publisher's coral-pink cloth with dark-blue coated end-papers. The advertisements at the back are for books published before 1901, and they do not mention The Argonauts of the Amazon - so we believe that this is in fact the first issue.
Arthur Rackham (1867-1939) is perhaps the most acclaimed and influential illustrators of the Golden Age of Illustration. A prolific artist even from his youth, Rackham got his start as an illustrator working for the Westminster Budget Newspaper (1892). Over the next few years, he took on more and more commissions for children’s books, hitting his career high in the first three decades of the twentieth century. Rackham turned his imaginative pen to every classic—from Shakespeare to Dickens to Poe.
Gettings 175. Hamilton 187. Latimore & Haskell 16. Riall .42. (Inventory #: 3761)
According to Richard Riall, the first issue was "bound in light blue cloth with pictorial stamping on the cover and spine in yellow, black and white. The cover design is taken from an illustration [plate facing page 203] in the book. Gold lettering on the cover and spine. 305 numbered pages 125 x 180 and 32 pages of advertisements at the back of the book. 6 full-page illustrations in half-tone by Rackham. Light yellow end-papers matching the yellow of the cover design." Riall then goes on to say "Secondary bindings: In coral-pink cloth, with the same date on the title page and the pictorial stamping. Has grey end-papers. Also in orange cloth with dark blue end-papers, and a slightly larger size, 130 x 185" (Riall). Our copy is in the publisher's coral-pink cloth with dark-blue coated end-papers. The advertisements at the back are for books published before 1901, and they do not mention The Argonauts of the Amazon - so we believe that this is in fact the first issue.
Arthur Rackham (1867-1939) is perhaps the most acclaimed and influential illustrators of the Golden Age of Illustration. A prolific artist even from his youth, Rackham got his start as an illustrator working for the Westminster Budget Newspaper (1892). Over the next few years, he took on more and more commissions for children’s books, hitting his career high in the first three decades of the twentieth century. Rackham turned his imaginative pen to every classic—from Shakespeare to Dickens to Poe.
Gettings 175. Hamilton 187. Latimore & Haskell 16. Riall .42. (Inventory #: 3761)
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