The King of the Golden River (Signed limited edition)
- SIGNED
- London: George Harrap & Co, 1932
London: George Harrap & Co, 1932. Limited edition. Near Fine. Number 521 of 575 copies signed by Arthur Rackham. A Near Fine, partially uncut copy. Octavo (8 3/4 x 5 3/4 inches; 222 x 146 mm.). 47, [1] pp. Four color plates and fifteen drawings in black and white. Original limp vellum. Pictorial endpapers in green and white. Top edge gilt, others uncut. Housed in the original (slightly worn) slipcase with matching limitation number to spine.
The King of the Golden River or The Black Brothers: A Legend of Stiria, is a children’s fantasy-adventure novel by the English critic John Ruskin (1819–1900). The parable follows Gluck, the youngest and kindest of three brothers, whose meeting with the magical King of the Golden River changes his life forever, while teaching the reader about generosity along the way. A departure from most of his literary output, the book was originally written for the twelve-year old Effie Gray, who Ruskin would later marry and who would eventually leave him for John Everett Millais. Ruskin would later praise “the value of the traditional tales, with their power ‘to fortify children against the glacial cold of selfish science’—a sentiment which lies at the heart of his own story” (The Oxford Companion to Fairy Tales).
Arthur Rackham (1867-1939) is perhaps the most acclaimed and influential illustrator of the Golden Age of Illustration. A prolific artist even from his youth, Rackham got his start as an illustrator working for the Westminster Budget Newspaper (1892). Over the next few years, he took on more and more commissions for children’s books, hitting his career high in the first three decades of the twentieth century. Rackham turned his imaginative pen to every classic—from Shakespeare to Dickens to Poe.
Latimore and Haskell, p. 67. Riall, p. 176. Near Fine.
The King of the Golden River or The Black Brothers: A Legend of Stiria, is a children’s fantasy-adventure novel by the English critic John Ruskin (1819–1900). The parable follows Gluck, the youngest and kindest of three brothers, whose meeting with the magical King of the Golden River changes his life forever, while teaching the reader about generosity along the way. A departure from most of his literary output, the book was originally written for the twelve-year old Effie Gray, who Ruskin would later marry and who would eventually leave him for John Everett Millais. Ruskin would later praise “the value of the traditional tales, with their power ‘to fortify children against the glacial cold of selfish science’—a sentiment which lies at the heart of his own story” (The Oxford Companion to Fairy Tales).
Arthur Rackham (1867-1939) is perhaps the most acclaimed and influential illustrator of the Golden Age of Illustration. A prolific artist even from his youth, Rackham got his start as an illustrator working for the Westminster Budget Newspaper (1892). Over the next few years, he took on more and more commissions for children’s books, hitting his career high in the first three decades of the twentieth century. Rackham turned his imaginative pen to every classic—from Shakespeare to Dickens to Poe.
Latimore and Haskell, p. 67. Riall, p. 176. Near Fine.