SIGNED LIMITED EDITION OF RACKHAM’S THE NIGHT BEFORE CHRISTMAS
MOORE, Clement C. The Night Before Christmas. Illustrated by Arthur Rackham. Philadelphia: J.B. Lippincott, [1931]. Octavo, original gilt-stamped limp vellum, red and white pictorial endpapers, top edge gilt, uncut; original cardboard slipcase with printed paper spine label.
Signed limited first edition, number 9 of only 275 copies printed for America (out of a total edition of 550), with four color plates and 17 in-text line cuts, signed by Arthur Rackham, in publisher's original slipcase.
"One of the world's most widely read poems… 'Twas the Night Before Christmas' recast St. Nicholas as a cheerful, rosy-cheeked elf and established Christmas as a time for giving gifts to children" (Carnegie Mellon University). For this edition of the Yuletide classic, Rackham created four full-color illustrations, 17 drawings in black and white, and red and white pictorial endpapers. Printed in red and black. From a total edition of 550 signed copies (an additional 275 were issued in England). Riall, 174. Latimore & Haskell, 66.
Interior fine, vellum very nearly so with one tiny hole to front panel; slipcase only with expert restoration.