Mother Goose: The Old Nursery Rhymes Illustrated by Arthur Rackham

London: William Heinemann, 1913. No date; circa 1913. William Heinemann, London at title page. Stated All Rights Reserved at copyright page. Grey full-cloth pictorial boards navy, green and reddish orange cover and spine design, moderate cover wear, discoloration, bow. Cover features ornately patterned bands with several small vignettes and scenes in each area with whimsical titles in orange and navy. Spine with similar titles and floral colored imagery. Pages generally near very good; moderate varied fox at first few pages, some toning at white endpapers. Dark blue upper exterior text block. Antiquarian signature and brief note near hinge, pencilled at front blank endpaper: "D. Gabriel". Silhouette decorated title page of children in ring, around the rosy tree, w/detailed states of other children at play in four corners of border. Frontispiece mounted color plate and captioned tissue guard features humorously haunting imagery: "Jack Sprat and his wife". Complete with one dozen darkly charming color plates and captioned tissue guards. Also, eighty-five full-page b&w plates and partial page imagery, decoration, and vignettes layered throughout. Many in silhouette form. Rare near very good early first edition of this captivating volume. "So far as titles go (but not so far as artwork goes) we move into a different key with Mother Goose, a book constructed in 1913 from a series of plates and line drawings which had appeared and would reappear in St Nicholas between 1912 and 1914. The poems were chosen by Rackham, presumably in terms of the themes and subjects he wished to illustrate: this would account for the consistently good quality of the many plates and of the numerous line drawings." (Gettings 131). Latimore and Haskell 41. Riall 115. Here is Arthur Rackham at his most charming and, slightly macabre, best. From Rackham foreword: There are many more Nursery Rhymes than included in this book, though I think most of the best known are here. I have chosen those I knew and liked best in my own nursery days, and have kept to versions I was familiar with. Nursery rhymes have until recently been handed on by oral tradition with inevitable variations and most we knew came from our elders. However altered, children do not seem to be confused by them and make their own choice and go on inventing variations. Five-page index of first lines at back. Printed by R. Clay and Sons, Ltd., Brunswick Street, Stamford Street, and Bungay, Suffolk. 6 1/4" x 8 1/4" design. 160 pages. Insured post.. First Edition. Hard Cover. Good. Illus. by Rackham, Arthur. 8vo - over 7¾ - 9¾" Tall.