"Gulliver's Travels" by Jonathan Swift and illustrated by Arthur Rackham J.M. Dent, London - 1909 first Rackham edition - Contains twelve full colour plates including frontispiece, all with tissue guard, plus several line drawings - 290p, 25cmx20cm - condition: , in original red gilt binding, minor rubbing to upper spine, dampstaining to covers and page edges, complete with all Rackham plates. "Gulliver's Travels has given Swift an immortality beyond temporary fame.All those who had been fascinated by the realism and vivid detail of Defoe's Robinson Crusoe were captivated again, even though they knew that Gulliver must be fiction. The brilliance and thoroughness with which his logic and invention work out the piquancies of scale involved by the giant human among the Lilliputians, and then by a minikin Gulliver among the Brobdingnagians, ran away with the author's original intention. Gulliver's Travels has achieved the final apotheosis of a satirical fable, but it has also become a tale for children. For every edition designed for the reader with an eye to the historical background, twenty have appeared, abridged or adapted, for readers who care nothing for the satire and enjoy it as a first-class story" (Printing and the Mind of Man). Here, the narrative is brought to life with Rackham's exceptional illustrations, which highlight the humor as well as the darkness twisting through Swift's work.