"HAUNTED FIELDS, AND HAUNTED BROOKS, AND HAUNTED HOUSES": LEGEND OF SLEEPY HOLLOW, ONE OF ONLY 375 COPIES SIGNED BY RACKHAM, SIGNED LIMITED EDITION WITH OVER 30 ILLUSTRATIONS, EIGHT IN COLOR

(RACKHAM, Arthur) IRVING, Washington. The Legend of Sleepy Hollow. London: George G. Harrap & Co., (1928). Quarto, original full vellum, pictorial endpapers, top edge gilt, uncut. Housed in a custom slipcase. $4500.

Deluxe signed limited first edition, number 203 of only 375 copies signed by Rackham, featuring eight vibrant color plates and numerous black-and-white illustrations by Rackham. A lovely copy.

Arthur Rackham's lyrical "combination of 'grace and grotesque,' as E.V. Lucas described it… has affected childhood vision and imagination" across many generations (Hamilton, 9). With this beautiful signed limited edition, Rackham, who had just visited the United States, brings new life to Washington Irving's classic 1819 tale in this volume's splendid phantasmic images of "haunted fields, and haunted brooks, and haunted houses." This signed limited edition is one of the smallest limitations among signed Rackham books. Of this edition's 375 copies, 125 were for sale in the United States and 250 were for sale in England; this copy is part of the English issue. Latimore & Haskell, 63-4. Hudson, 171. Riall, 164.

Original vellum with slight spotting, plates bright and fine. A beautiful copy.