London: Constable & Co. Ltd., 1919. First edition. Number 307 of 575 copies signed by Arthur Rackham on the limitation page. A Near Fine copy. In the publisher's quarter vellum over boards. Corners somewhat bumped, lower board with a slight scratch and some sunning. Endpapers slightly toned, otherwise very bright and clean throughout. Small bookseller's ticket to upper pastedown. Complete, with all sixteen color plates.

The delightful work contains a collection of historic British poems ornamented with charming medievalizing illustrations by Rackham. "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" (contemporary review in The Connoisseur).

Arthur Rackham (1867 - 1939) is perhaps the most acclaimed and influential illustrator 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.

Lattimore and Haskell, 50. Riall 137. Near Fine (Item #7936)