GOLDSMITH, Oliver. The Vicar of Wakefield. Illustrated by Arthur Rackham.

Philadelphia: David McKay Company, n.d. [c.1915]. Large quarto. pp. [10], 312. Publisher’s blue cloth, upper cover and spine lettered and decorated in gilt, top edge gilt, with the original pictorial dust jacket and publisher’s protective wrapper. Twelve full-page colour plates by Arthur Rackham mounted on grey art paper with captioned tissue guards. A fine bright copy in an exceptionally well-preserved dust jacket. Housed in the original protective illustrated bok. A particularly attractive example.

A handsome Arthur Rackham edition of Goldsmith’s enduring eighteenth-century novel, first published in 1766. The Vicar of Wakefield remains one of the most beloved works in English literature, chronicling the fortunes and misfortunes of Dr. Primrose and his family through a series of comic, sentimental, and often dramatic episodes. The novel enjoyed immense popularity throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries and proved especially suited to Rackham’s distinctive interpretation.

Arthur Rackham (1867–1939), the most celebrated British illustrator of the Edwardian “Golden Age” of book illustration, brought his characteristic blend of elegance, humour and atmospheric draughtsmanship to the work. His twelve colour plates and numerous decorative designs capture both the pastoral charm and gentle satire of Goldsmith’s narrative. Rackham’s illustrated books remain among the most sought-after productions of the period and his interpretation of The Vicar of Wakefield is widely regarded as one of his most appealing literary commissions.

An excellent copy of a classic Rackham-illustrated edition, increasingly difficult to find in such fresh condition with its original dust jacket and protective wrapper intact.

[L3 6G]