RACKHAM, Arthur (illus.); SHAKESPEARE, William.

£1,250 · Offered by Peter Harrington · No longer available

A Midsummer Night's Dream. First Rackham edition, in a handsome prize binding for Tonbridge pupil and artist Captain Adrian Waterlow (1893-1978). The recipient, who was the son of the painter Sir Ernest Albert Waterlow, exhibited at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition in 1937 and 1938. He previously saw action at the Battle of Loos and was retired from frontline duty after being severely injured during the first day of fighting.In these memorable illustrations, Rackham "developed his gift for drawing witches, gnomes, fairies, and anthropomorphized trees and brought them to a pitch of vivid characterization, sometimes with an unsettling frisson of horror" (ODNB).

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