Rackham on Peter Pan
Autograph Letter, signed ("Arthur Rackham"), to Mr. Sutcliffe.
16 Chalcot Gardens, [London]: 16 October 1919.
Price: $2,000.00
About the item
3 pp. pen-and-ink on paper. 8vo. Rackham on Peter Pan. Creased from prior folding. Cf. Hudson, Arthur Rackham, p. 168; Riall, p. 240 (for Lazarus bookplate).
Item #302459
The great British gift book illustrator Arthur Rackham (1867–1939) writes to a Mr. Sutcliffe with news of two upcoming books (Some British Ballads and Cinderella), the whereabouts of the original watercolors for his early masterpiece, Peter Pan of Kensington Gardens, and work on a commissioned bookplate design for collector G.L. Lazarus. Reading in part: "In answer to your letter of the 8th, I have none of the Peter Pan drawings left nor do I know where any of them are as they were all sold to various private buyers by the Leicester Galleries on the occasion of their exhibition many years ago (1906 I think). I am holding a show in New York at Messrs. Scott & Fowles some time this autumn & at this show there will be 2 or 3 drawings, made for the 2nd edition of Peter Pan …" Following on the success of the first Rackham illustrated edition of Peter Pan in 1906, a second edition was published in 1912 with a new color frontispiece, cover design, and seven new full-page illustrations.
Mr. Sutcliffe is possibly George Sutcliffe of the high-end London bindery of Sangorski & Sutcliffe. Rackham later used the company to specially bind with works for distribution to friends.
