London: Constable & Co., [n.d. 1919]. First edition. Later issue. Publisher's blue cloth, gilt lettered, top edge blue, gray pictorial endpapers. The mildest of wear to spine foot, otherwise a fine copy in very good possibly later dust jacket (with Heinemann imprint at foot of spine and with the last book listed on the rear panel as Some British Ballads). Quarto (10 x 7 3/8 in; 257 x 187 mm). Collating 170, [2]. Sixteen full color plates mounted on gray paper with tissue guards, twenty-four black and white drawings. Loosely inserted between two of the preliminary leaves is the original Constable & Co., request card which has left a small rectangular mark on the two facing pages.

"Few of Mr Rackham's work have been more consistently impressed with charm and beauty than his illustrations in colour to Some British Ballads. In them he pictures a succession of fascinating heroines habited in quaint and picturesque costumes, amid surroundings which, though belonging to no definite place or period, are always appropriate and congruous. His heroes are hardly less charming than his heroines, and the scenes in which they are represented constitute a series of fascinating and delightful pictures ... one must feel grateful to Mr Rackham for giving us the prettiest picture book of the season" (The Connoisseur, Vol. LVI, 1920).

“Never did old poems appear so gayly bedecked than Some British Ballads, which Arthur Rackham has gorgeously illustrated with 16 paintings… It is hard to decide which the more attractive feature of this book—Mr. Rackham’s paintings or the ballads themselves” (New York Times).

"No more effective inspiration for the gifted brush of Arthur Rackham could be found than these popular old ballads. Handsomely printed and bound, this magnificent work should appeal to all" (The Atlantic Monthly, Dec. 1920). (Item #3711)