RACKHAM, Arthur.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Original watercolour for Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens: "A Band of Workmen, Who were Sawing Down a Toadstool, Rushed Away, Leaving Their Tools Behind Them". Published in Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens in 1906, as the 14th of 50 colour plates, to accompany the text, "to Peter's bewilderment he discovered that every fairy he met fled from him". Exhibited at the Leicester Galleries Exhibition in December 1906, this fine drawing shows Rackham's comic grotesque style and was originally purchased by his usual publisher, William Heinemann.Heinemann (1863-1920) started his publishing firm in 1890 and "became one of London's most respected publishers, exerting considerable influence on the industry" (ODNB). Rip van Winkle, published by Heinemann with illustrations by Rackham in 1905, marked the beginning of a long and successful partnership, broken only when Rackham moved to George G. Harrap in the late 1920s. Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens was published by J. M. Barrie's publishers, Hodder & Stoughton, yet Heinemann's purchase shows the strength of the relationship between Rackham and his primary publisher. The official history of the firm notes, "By far the most illustrious books for children came... from Arthur Rackham. Although he worked for other houses, his main publisher was Heinemann, issuing seventeen of his large-scale illustrated volumes" (St John, p. 103).Rackham was among the first book illustrators to realize the commercial potential of original artwork. The Leiceste

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