Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Nathaniel Hawthorne. Wonder Book. Hodder & Stoughton LTD, London, New York, & Toronto, 1922.
Price: US$950.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: 24 tipped-in colour plates with captioned tissue-guards, top edge gilt, remainder uncut, original cream cloth gilt, slightly soiled and darkened, 592/600 copies, signed by Rackham.
Seller: Written Relics, Alton Bay, NH, U.S.A.
Price: US$1292.34 + shipping
Description: Signed limited edition, number 538 of 600 copies signed by the artist. A review of this work in The English Review noted that "the charm of [Rackham's] work. holds, and the result is a quite delightful presentation book, perhaps too good for the tender mercies of the nursery". The English Review, December 1922, p. 573; Latimore & Haskell, p. 55; Riall, p. 146. Quarto. Original cream buckram, spine lettered in gilt, front cover lettered and with vignette in gilt, pictorial endpapers, top edge gilt, others untrimmed. Frontispiece and 15 colour plates, 8 three-colour full-page illustrations, illustrations in the text, all by Arthur Rackham. Light consistent toning to cloth, occasional splitting at gutter between gatherings, first gathering becoming loose, minor foxing to free endpapers; a very good and attractive copy with uncreased plates.
Seller: Peter Harrington. ABA/ ILAB., London, United Kingdom
Price: US$1615.43 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: London, New York and Toronto: Hodder and Stoughton, Ltd, 1922, SIGNED Numbered Limited Edition. Fine limited edition, signed and numbered in ink by Arthur Rackham to the limitation page: "This Edition is limited to six hundred copies numbered and signed by the artist. This copy is number '120'. 'Arthur Rackham'". Cream coloured buckram (full cloth) boards, gilt titles and illustration to the front board, gilt titles to the spine with the publisher s details at the base, moderate shelf wear, rub, toning. Pictorial endpapers of young boy and girl walking towards a tree. Thick heavy stock pages, with gilt top edge, others untrimmed, clean with attractive toning. Frontispiece mounted colour plate with captioned tissue guard: "Pandora and Epimetheus". Illustrated with fifteen further full-colour mounted plates on darker stock paper, all with tissue guards. An additional eight full-page duo-chromatic illustrations, many resembling a Japanese influence, with cations. Contents include: The Gorgon's Head; The Golden Touch; The Paradise of Children; The Three Golden Apples; The Miraculous Pitcher; The Chimaera. Printed in Great Britain by T. and A. Constable Ltd. at the Edinburgh University Press. 207pp. Provenance: no inscriptions or bookplates. Approximately 11 ½ inches tall. Condition Report Externally Spine good condition slightly darkened, gilt titles. Joints good condition. Corners good condition minor rubbing and wear. Boards good condition gilt decorated to the front board, minor marks to the rear board. Page edges good condition gilt top edge, others untrimmed. See above and photos. Internally Hinges good condition sound, some straining to gutters internally. Paste downs good condition pictorial, tanned, minor foxing. Free end papers good condition foxed. Title good condition tanned. Pages good condition tanned, minor foxing. Binding good condition. See photos. Publisher: see above. Publication Date: 1922 Binding: Hardback
Seller: Louis88Books (Members of the PBFA), Andover, United Kingdom
Price: US$1700.00 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: 1922. Signed by Rackham. 1st Printing. Has six hundred copies numbered and signed by the Author, this is 578. Nice Firm Clean copy ! Bound in white cloth and gold decorations, top page edges gold gilt. 207 pages. RBR14
Seller: BookScene, Hull, MA, U.S.A.
Price: US$1899.75 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Please email for Photographs or further information. Very Good - Fine in own presentation box, presentation box has some sun bleaching Please see photos as part of condition report 1922 1st Edition (Thus) , A WONDER BOOK By Nathanial Hawthorne Nathaniel Hawthorne (July 4, 1804 – May 19, 1864) was an American novelist and short story writer. His works often focus on history, morality, and religion. He was born in 1804 in Salem, Massachusetts, from a family long associated with that town. Illustrated By: Arthur Rackham Arthur Rackham RWS (19 September 1867 – 6 September 1939) was an English book illustrator. He is recognised as one of the leading figures during the Golden Age of British book illustration. His work is noted for its robust pen and ink drawings, which were combined with the use of watercolour, a technique he developed due to his background as a journalistic illustrator. Rackham's 51 colour pieces for the early American tale Rip Van Winkle became a turning point in the production of books since – through colour-separated printing – it featured the accurate reproduction of colour artwork. His best-known works also include the illustrations for Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens, and Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm. Format: Hardcover, Language: English Dust Jacket: No Jacket, Dust Jacket Condition: No Jacket Published By: Hodder & Stoughton, London Super octavo (8vo 7 × 11 178 × 279),Pages 207 ISBN: Hawthorne's retelling of Greek myths. The stories in A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys are all stories within a story. The frame story is that Eunice Bright, a Williams College student, is telling these tales to a group of children at Tanglewood, an area in Lenox, Massachusetts, where Hawthorne lived for a time. All the tales are modified versions of ancient Greek myths: "The Gorgon's Head" - recounts the story of Perseus killing Medusa at the request of the king of the island, Polydectes. "The Golden Touch" - recounts the story of King Midas and his "Golden Touch" "The Paradise of Children" - recounts the story of Pandora opening the box filled with all of mankind's Troubles "The Three Golden Apples" - recounts the story of Heracles procuring the Three Golden Apples from the Hesperides' orchard, with the help of Atlas "The Miraculous Pitcher" - recounts the story of Baucis and Philemon providing food and shelter to two strangers who were Zeus and "Quicksilver" (Hermes) in disguise. Baucis and Philemon were rewarded by the gods for their kindness; they were promised never to live apart from one another "The Chimæra" - recounts the story of Bellerophon taming Pegasus and killing the Chimæra. SKU: BTETM0001640 Approximate Package Dimensions H: 12.5, L: 30, W: 25 (Units: cm), W: 3Kg
Seller: Books That Expand The Mind, Margate, KENT, United Kingdom
Price: US$1950.00 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: Fine limited edtion signed and numbered in fountain pen by Arthur Rackham at limitation page: "This Edition is limited to 600 copies numbered and signed by the artist. This copy is number '592'. 'Arthur Rackham'". Beautiful gigantic 9 1/2" x 11 1/2" x 2" design weighing over five lbs. Cream colored buckram (full cloth) boards, gilt cover titles and detailed vignette design, gilt spine titles w/Hodder & Stoughton at heel, moderate shelf wear, rub, toning. Front cover depicts wily satyr in tree shaking the leaves while children look on below. Pictorial endpapers of young lad and lady approaching tree w/silhouette in foreground of mercury atop pedestal and young satyr-like being sitting upon foundation. Thick heavy stock deckled leaves, clean with attractive toning; no writing. Gilded top edge. Frontispiece mounted color plate w/captioned tissue guard: "Pandora and Epimetheus". Illustrated with fifteen more full-color mounted plates printed in rich hues. Fine captioned tissue guards present. Also, an additional eight full-page duo-chromatic illustrations, many resembling a Japanese influence, with captions greatly enchance this volume. Variously sized b&w decorative headers and tailpieces throughout. Bind fine; hinges intact. Very attractive near very good limited edtion of fine book craftsmanship. Presented here are a half dozen of the classical myths rendered into very essential reading for children. A great freedom of treatment was necessary rendering these legends into malleable forms remaining same or similar in their essence having existed for the past two or three millennia. But, by their indestructibility are legitimate subjects for every age to clothe with its own garnish of manners and sentiment, and imbue with its own morality. In these fables of Hawthorne, they assume a Gothic or romantic guise and meeting the comprehension of children. It is only the artificial and complex that bewilder them, while their imaginative senses rise deep and high for elemental of these legends. Contents include: The Gorgon's Head; The Golden Touch; The Paradise of Children; The Three Golden Apples; The Miraculous Pitcher; The Chimaera. Printed in Great Britain by T. and A. Constable Ltd. at the Edinburgh University Press. 207 pages. Insured post. Size: 4to - over 9¾" - 12" tall
Seller: The BiblioFile, Rapid River, MI, U.S.A.
Hawthorne, Nathaniel (Rackham, Arthur). Wonder Book. Hodder & Stoughton, 1922.
Price: US$2500.00 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: First Edition. A sharp copy of this limited edition of 600 copies SIGNED by Arthur Rackham. The book is in nice shape. The binding is tight, and the boards are crisp with light wear to the spine and edges. The pages are clean with no writing, marks or bookplates in the book. Overall, a lovely copy SIGNED by Rackham in collector's condition. We buy SIGNED Rackham books.
Seller: Magnum Opus Rare Books, Missoula, MT, U.S.A.
Price: US$6032.00 + shipping
Description: 286 x 222 mm. (11 1/4 x 8 7/8"). viii, 206, [2] pp. MOST ATTRACTIVE CHOCOLATE BROWN CRUSHED MOROCCO, GILT AND ONLAID, BY ELEANORE VAN SWERINGEN (stamp-signed and dated 1928 on rear turn-in), covers bordered by thick and thin gilt rules enclosing an onlaid geometrical frame of blue-green morocco, the corner with tan morocco and gilt anthemiums, center of each side with onlaid blue morocco square with gilt tulip, raised bands, spine compartments with similar gilt and onlaid frame, blue squares with tulips at center, gilt lettering, gilt-ruled turn-ins, pictorial endpapers by Rackham, all edges gilt. Original pictorial gilt binding of white cloth bound in. Housed in a French style calf-lined chemise trimmed with matching brown morocco. With 24 colored plates, 16 of them tipped on, as well as other illustrations in the text, all by Rackham. Front flyleaf with detached bookplate of John Suetierle Taylor, with handwritten ink notation "The Wonder-Book, presented to John on Sunday--the 10th of April, 1932. His ninth birthday." Signed with the monogram E. S. T. Hudson, p. 171; Latimore & Haskell, p. 55. For the binder, see Conroy, "Teaching Genealogies of American Hand Bookbinders" in the Guild of Book Workers Journal (Vol. 28. Nos. 1 & 2. spring/fall 1990), p. 61. âEndpapers with offsetting from the morocco flaps of the chemise, otherwise very fine IN A LOVELY, VIRTUALLY PERFECT BINDING. This item is of interest for its binder, author, and illustrator. Our volume was beautifully bound by New York artisan Eleanore Van Sweringen, who studied with a number of prominent binders in the U.S., England, and France. Although best remembered for his novels, Nathaniel Hawthorne published several books of stories for children, including the present work, which ANB tells us was produced in 1851 "to support his growing family." Here, Hawthorne's delightful retelling of Greek myths of Perseus, King Midas, Pandora's Box, Hercules, and Baucis and Philemon is much enlivened by Rackham's charming illustrations. Our copy was bound when Van Sweringen was a member of the Guild of Book Workers, which, according to the group's website, was founded in 1906 "with the goal of nurturing a feeling of kinship and mutual interest among workers in the several hand book crafts." The Guild's Yearbook for 1908-09 and 1909-10 listed Van Sweringen as a member and named F. Boone, Helen Haskell Noyes, and A. Dehertagh as her teachers. Van Sweringen continued her training abroad, adding, in 1912-13, the name of the great Charles McLeish to her instructors and then the French masters Domont, Noulhac, and Maylander in 1923-24. Our binding definitely shows the influence of Henri Noulhac in its design, onlays, and tooling. Van Sweringen became a teacher herself, and her pupils included Ruth S. Bergen, Gertrude Dodsworth, Dorothy Moulton, and Christine Hamilton. Van Sweringen bindings are rarely seen: we could trace just two others in RBH, one of them the substantial and significant five-volume Doves Press English Bible.
Seller: Phillip J. Pirages Rare Books (ABAA), McMinnville, OR, U.S.A.