ADAMS, Richard.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Watership Down. First illustrated edition, signed limited issue, number 161 of 250 specially bound copies signed by both the author and illustrator. This copy has an original watercolour depicting four rabbits in a field, drawn and initialled by the illustrator, on the preliminary blank.Adams's first novel, Watership Down was initially turned down by the major publishing houses, before publication by Rex Collings in 1972, and it was quickly established as a major work of British post-war literature. Sales exceeded 100,000 copies in the first year, and Adams was awarded both the Carnegie Medal and the Guardian Award for children's fiction. The novel was adapted into an animated film in 1978, and two animated television series, the first running from 1999 to 2001, the second airing in 2018.An exhibition to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the publication of the novel was mounted in 1982. The catalogue notes that "the many delightful illustrations by John Lawrence... will surely become as firmly established as the definitive illustrations to Watership Down as Shepard's have for The Wind in the Willows".

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