Aesop; illustrated by Arthur Rackham - Æsop's Fables - 1912

A highly collectible early Rackham edition of one of the world’s most enduring classics, published by William Heinemann, London, with a new translation by V. S. Vernon Jones and an introduction by G. K. Chesterton. Bound in the original green cloth with delightful gilt animal decoration by Rackham, this complete copy retains all 13 colour plates together with the black-and-white illustrations, including such famous fables as The Hare and the Tortoise, The Fox and the Crow, The North Wind and the Sun and The Owl and the Birds. Remarkably, the full-page colour plates still retain their original captioned tissue guards.

Rackham’s animals are wonderfully expressive and imaginative, ranging from delicate line drawings to richly atmospheric colour plates, making this one of the most appealing illustrated editions of Aesop’s Fables from the Golden Age of British book illustration. The volume also retains its charming pictorial endpapers, with an early ownership inscription. Some of the illustrations have been partially coloured by a previous young owner — an evocative trace of the book’s life as a much-loved children’s volume more than a century ago.

Condition: A complete but well-used copy showing considerable age and wear. The original green cloth is rubbed and marked, with general wear and minor losses at the spine extremities. The endpapers and spine have been professionally reinforced using age-compatible materials, helping to preserve the book’s structural integrity and stability over time. Some foxing and spotting are present throughout, together with occasional staining and handling marks. Some illustrations have been coloured, as noted above. Nevertheless, the text remains complete and fully readable, all illustrations are present, including all 13 colour plates, with the full-page plates retaining their tissue guards. Despite its faults, this remains a wonderfully characterful and complete 1912 Arthur Rackham Aesop’s Fables, with the celebrated illustrations that make this edition so enduringly desirable.