Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
RUSKIN, John. RACKHAM, Arthur (illus.). The King of the Golden River.. George Harrap, London, 1932.
Price: US$350.00 + shipping
Description: 48 pp. Illustrated in color and black and white by Arthur Rackham. 8vo, original full gilt-lettered flexible vellum; but lacking the publisher's slipcase. First edition; No. 514 of 570 copies, signed by Arthur Rackham. Very fine; a beautiful copy.
Seller: Jeffrey H. Marks, Rare Books, ABAA, Rochester, NY, U.S.A.
Price: US$450.00 + shipping
Description: Octavo, 47 pagers; VG; bound in publisher's limp vellum stamped in gilt; plain spine; top edge gilt; very mild shelfwear; lacking publisher's slipcase; interior clean; signed flat by Rackham on the limitation page, hand-numbered #148/575 copies; with four color plates, 15 black and white drawings; shelved case 14. Ruskin's only published work of fiction was originally a fairy tale requested by twelve year old Effie Gray, who would later become his wife.; 1365084. Shelved Dupont Bookstore.
Seller: Second Story Books, ABAA, Rockville, MD, U.S.A.
Price: US$600.00 + shipping
Description: Signed limited edition. Octavo, original limp vellum, gilt titles and decoration to front cover, illustrated endpapers, top edge gilt, color frontispiece and three plates, illustrations in the text, all by Rackham. Signed by Arthur Rackham, one of 570 copies of which 550 were for sale, this is number 549. Near fine in the the rare original slipcase, bookplate. This work by John Ruskin was originally written in 1841 for the twelve-year-old Effie (Euphemia) Gray, whom Ruskin later married. It was published in book form in 1851, and became an early Victorian classic which sold out three editions. In the "Advertisement to the First Edition", which prefaces it, it is called a fairy tale, one, it might be added, that illustrates the triumph of love, kindness, and goodness over evil; however, it could also be characterized as a fable, a fabricated origin myth and a parable. It was illustrated by Arthur Rackham in 1932.
Seller: Raptis Rare Books, Palm Beach, FL, U.S.A.
Price: US$750.00 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: First edition with Rackham illustrations, one of 575 copies, octavo size, 48 pp., signed by Arthur Rackham. A perfect convergence of "one of the earliest English examples of a fantasy written specifically for a child" (which may have had a direct effect upon George MacDonald and, subsequently, C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien) written by the truly brilliant writer John Ruskin (1819-1900), author, art critic, and social thinker. Ruskin wrote the story for the then twelve-year old Effie Gray, later to become his wife, who challenged her friend Mr. Ruskin to write a fairy story, as it was "the least likely task for him to fulfill" - he fulfilled it wonderfully, and the story has remained a favourite with children ever since. Wonderfully illustrated by the unparalleled Arthur Rackham (1867-1939), whose "imaginative eye saw all forms with the eyes of childhood and created a world that was half reassuring and half frightening" (n. b., quotes from Carpenter, "The Oxford Companion to Children's Literature", p. 294 and Houfe, "The Dictionary of 19 Century British Book Illustrators", p. 268). With four full-page illustrations in full colour and fifteen drawings in black and white by Arthur Rackham, this copy housed in the original publisher's slipcase (with the limitation number matching that in the volume), and with the original glassine wrapper. ___DESCRIPTION: Full limp vellum, gold lettering on the front, top edge gilt, fore- and bottom edges uncut, green pictorial endpapers, limitation statement on the verso of the half-title page, frontispiece a four-colour illustration, title page in red and black with vignette in the same colours, four full-colour illustrations (including frontispiece) throughout, the black and white drawings scattered through the text; octavo size (9.25" by 6"), pagination: [1-4] 5-47 [48], one of 550 copies, this number 287 (total edition 570, with 20 copies not for sale), signed by Arthur Rackham on the limitation page. In the original glassine jacket, housed in the publisher's plain original slipcase, paper spine label with brown lettering giving the title and illustrator, with the limitation number of 287 handwritten onto the label. ___CONDITION: Volume fine, the vellum binding clean and smooth, the corners straight and unrubbed, the text block strong and the hinges solid, the interior pages clean and bright with light foxing only to the endpapers, several signatures unopened, and entirely free of prior owner markings; some light dustiness to the top fore-edge corner of the text block, else fine. The glassine wrapper near fine with minor overall wear (no rips or tears), sunned around the spine. Slipcase near fine, strong and sturdy, without splits or tears, with light overall soiling and some edgewear to the paper spine label. ___CITATIONS: Riall p. 176; Latimore & Haskell p. 67. ___POSTAGE: International customers please note that additional postage may apply, please inquire for details. ___Swan's Fine Books is pleased to be a member of the ABAA, ILAB, and IOBA and we stand behind every book we sell. Please contact us with any questions, we are here to help.
Seller: Swan's Fine Books, ABAA, ILAB, IOBA, Walnut Creek, CA, U.S.A.
Price: US$750.00 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: A very pleasing copy of the 1932 signed/limited. #451 OF 570 COPIES SIGNED BY ARTHUR RACKHAM at the limitation and bound in a full vellum, with bright gilt-titling to the front panel. Clean and easily VG+ to Near Fine, with much less of the bowing to the vellum than one usually encounters in this title. Octavo, 4 full-page color plates by Rackham plus lovely Rackham-illustrated pastedowns and endsheets. Also includes a sharp. well-preserved example of the publisher's printed slipcase.
Seller: APPLEDORE BOOKS, ABAA, WACCABUC, NY, U.S.A.
Price: US$768.84 + shipping
Description: Limited edition of 570 copies, of which this in no.96, signed by Arthur Rackham, 8vo., pp.48, publisher?s full vellum in original glassine jacket, gilt, deckle-edged paper, t.e.g., 4 colour plates (including colour frontispiece), pictorial title in red and black, small vignette in red to half title, 3 further small illustrations in red, pictorial endpapers printed in green, 10 in-text illustrations in b/w; slight creasing to upper corner of front wrapper, a particularly fine copy, with light wear to glassine jacket. Housed in cream card slipcase with printed paper label to spine (with handwritten limitation number); slipcase is foxed and with slight wear to edges of paper label, and has 2cm closed tear to paper covering at rear lower corner, else vg.
Seller: Minster Gate Bookshop (est. 1970), YORK, United Kingdom
Price: US$775.30 + shipping
Description: Signed limited edition, number 328 of 570 copies signed by the artist. Ruskin's story was originally conceived in 1841, and written for his future wife, Effie Gray: "Effie first met her future husband when she was twelve, on a visit to Herne Hill. The following year, 1841, on a second visit, she challenged him to write a fairy story" (ODNB). First published in 1850, with illustrations by Richard Doyle, Ruskin's only published work of fiction proved one of his most popular books. "The tale, in the manner of the brothers Grimm, deployed imagery that was to resurface in Ruskin's writings on political economy" (ibid.). Rackham's edition first appeared in 1932, and this deluxe signed edition followed shortly after. Latimore & Haskell, pp. 67-68; Riall, p. 176. Octavo. Original limp vellum, front cover lettered in gilt, top edge gilt, others untrimmed, pictorial endpapers. Colour frontispiece and 3 colour plates, black and white illustrations in the text. Vellum slightly cockled, a near-fine copy.
Seller: Peter Harrington. ABA/ ILAB., London, United Kingdom
Price: US$850.00 + shipping
Description: Octavo, pp. [1-4] 5 [6] 7 [8] 9-47 [48], four inserted plates with color reproductions of illustrations by Arthur Rackham, fifteen black and white illustrations by Rackham in the text, preliminary leaves printed in red and black, publisher's limp vellum, front panel lettered in gold, t.e.g., other edges untrimmed, pictorial endpapers. First printing with these illustrations. Number 189 of 570 copies signed by Arthur Rackham. "Kunstmärchen in which three brothers live in an Edenic valley until the greed of the elder two leads to its desolation; the youngest, with the aid of the eponymous fair king, restores it to its paradisiacal state. A conventional moral tale, gracefully told." - Barron, ed., Fantasy and Horror (1999) 3-118. Latimore & Haskell p. 67. A fine copy in torn plain glassine wrapper and worn, chipped and soiled cardboard slipcase (with matching number). (#160384)
Seller: Currey, L.W. Inc. ABAA/ILAB, Elizabethtown, NY, U.S.A.
Price: US$850.00 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: Beautifully signed in fountain by Arthur Rackham and hand-numbered at limitation page: "This edition limited to Five Hundred and Seventy copies of which Five Hundred and Fifty are for sale. This Copy is No. '159.' "Arthur Rackham.'" Stated at copyright: "First Published 1932 by George G. Harrap & Co." Bound in fine cream vellum (leather), gilt embossed cover titles, generally very clean with light wear, roll. Rough-cut deckled leaves remain clean, bright; many leaves remain uncut. Gilded top edge. Bind fine. Frontispiece color plate with caption: "He Put the Bottle to the Child's Lips." Features four superior and richly subtle color plates which greatly enhance this tale by Rackham. Fourteen black & white vignettes, one double-page, with decorative headers and tailpieces. Enchanting scissorcuts by Lisl Hummel. Monochromatic green patterned endpapers of elfin king, arms spread with his sceptor. Includes original slipcase serving intended purpose to protect volume; some rub, edge wear, exterior adhesive reinforcement. Case with title label at spine area appears individually hand numbered in Rackham's hand with same device as limitation page: "159." A wonderfully realized and entertaining work of art and craftsmanship. Near fine signed limited edition with original intact case. Originally written in 1841 for twelve-year-old Euphemia "Effie" Gray, the story was first published in 1851 and became an early Victorian classic. The first three editions, or printings, quickly sold out. Ruskin presents a fairy tale that illustrates the triumph of love, kindness, and goodness over evil. It is also considered a fable, a fabricated origin myth, and a parable. Ruskin was the leading English art critic of the Victorian era, as well as an art patron, draughtsman, water-colorist, prominent social thinker and philanthropist. Illustration with Rackham's stylish imagery and whimsical flourishes throughout. A beautifully imagined classic! Printed in Great Britain by R & R Clark, Limited, Edinburgh. Insured post. Size: 8vo - over 7¾ - 9¾" Tall
Seller: The BiblioFile, Rapid River, MI, U.S.A.
Price: US$1000.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: First thus. 48pp. with four color plates. Publisher's limp vellum lettered in gilt. Copy #537 of 550 copies in the limited edition signed by Arthur Rackham. Fine in Very Good original slipcase with small split along bottom edge, light wear. A very nice copy. Haskell and Latimore p. 67.
Seller: Burnside Rare Books, ABAA, Portland, OR, U.S.A.
Price: US$1000.00 + shipping
Description: Limited to 570 copies signed by the illustrator, of which this is 522. Housed in the original slipcase with paper label to spine, and retaining the scarce glassine jacket, which is Near Fine on account of some chipping to bottom edges and offsetting to spine. Book in original vellum with gilt to exterior and pictorial endpapers; overall Fine inside and out. A pleasing copy. A delightful fairy tale told with all Ruskin's charm of style, his appreciation for mountain scenery, and with his usual insistence on drawing a moral. Yet the backstory to this particular tale has a special spark all its own, for it emerged from a challenge issued to Ruskin by the 12 year old daughter of friends, who "bade him write for her a fairy tale. He accepted, and after but two sittings presented her with this charming story. The incident also awakened in him a greater interest than at first appeared, for a few years later, that girl Euphemia "Effie" Grey became his wife" (Coe). Here, the story is given further dimension with Rackham's magical illustrations.
Seller: Whitmore Rare Books, Inc. -- ABAA, ILAB, Pasadena, CA, U.S.A.
Price: US$1000.00 + shipping
Description: One of 575 Copies Signed by Arthur Rackham [RACKHAM, Arthur, illustrator]. RUSKIN, John. The King of the Golden River. Illustrated by Arthur Rackham. London: George Harrap & Co., [1932]. One of 575 copies signed by Arthur Rackham, this being copy No. 472. 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. A few text leaves roughly opened, small inoffensive stains on endpapers. A very good copy. Housed in a green cloth clamshell case. John Ruskin (1819-1900), "English author and artist, whose The King of the Golden River might be regarded as the first English fairy story for children. Though it was not published until 1851, seven years after Francis Paget's The Hope of the Katzekopfs, it was in fact written in 1841 for 12-year-old Effie Gray, whom he later married. It is a story of the three brothers of tradition, two bad, the youngest good, and their reception of a supernatural visitor, the South West Wind. Ruskin described it himself as âa fairly good imitation of Grimm and Dickens, mixed with some true Alpine feeling of my own', but the South West Wind is a powerful and original character, described by Stephen Prickett [in Victorian Fantasy (1979)] as the âfirst magical personage to show that combination of kindliness and eccentric irascibility that was to appear so strongly in a whole tradition of subsequent literature'. Richard Doyle, who illustrated the original edition, made a striking drawing of him. Edgar Taylor's translation of the Grimms' stories with illustrations by George Cruikshank was published in 1823; in Praeterita Ruskin recorded how he had copied these when he was 10 or 11. The book was reissued in 1868 with an introduction by Ruskin in which he spoke of the value of the traditional tales, with their power âto fortify children against the glacial cold of selfish science'â"a sentiment which lies at the heart of his own story" (The Oxford Companion to Fairy Tales). Latimore and Haskell, p. 67. Riall, p. 176.
Seller: David Brass Rare Books, Inc., Calabasas, CA, U.S.A.
Ruskin, John. THE KING OF THE GOLDEN RIVER. George Harrap & Co., Ltd., London, 1932.
Price: US$1150.00 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: (Rackham, Arthur) illustrator. THE KING OF THE GOLDEN RIVER by John Ruskin. London: George Harrap & Co., Ltd., [1932], 1932. First Rackham edition. 8vo - 6" x 9-5/16". Bound in vellum with gold lettering on the cover; gilt top. 47 numbered pages. Four full-page illustrations in colour and fifteen drawings in black and white, also pictorial end-papers in green and white. This edition is limited to 570 copies, of which 550 are for sale, all signed by the artist, Arthur Rackham. This copy is No. 58. Original slipcase with printed label and hand-written copy number has some foxing and a partial split to one of the upper joints. The condition of this book is FINE.
Seller: Wallace & Clark, Booksellers, Houston, TX, U.S.A.
Price: US$1200.00 + shipping
Description: Book condition is Very Good bound in full vellum, with gilt titles on the front cover; housed in a Very Good slipcase with paper label at spine. Toning, and a few small bumps to edges of slipcase. Text is unmarked, decorated end papers, four color plates, black & white drawings throughout. 48 pages. Edition was limited to 570 copies singed by Rackham. ; Signed by the illustrator, Arthur Rackham, on the limitation page. ; 8vo 8" - 9" tall; Signed by Illustrator. First Edition in this Format; Limited Edition.
Seller: Evolving Lens Bookseller, Kingston, NY, U.S.A.
Price: US$1292.17 + shipping
Description: Signed limited edition, number 151 of 570 copies signed by the artist. Ruskin's story was conceived in 1841 and written for his future wife, Effie Gray: "Effie first met her future husband when she was twelve, on a visit to Herne Hill. The following year, 1841, on a second visit, she challenged him to write a fairy story" (ODNB). First published in 1850, with illustrations by Richard Doyle, Ruskin's only published work of fiction proved one of his most popular books. "The tale, in the manner of the brothers Grimm, deployed imagery that was to resurface in Ruskin's writings on political economy" (ibid.). Rackham's edition first appeared in 1932. A near-contemporary review stated "The King of the Golden River is a classic tale, marvellously illustrated in colour and line by that great artist, Arthur Rackham". Latimore & Haskell, pp. 67-68; Riall, p. 176. Saturday Review of Politics, Literature, Science and Art, 30 November 1935, pp. 534-5. Octavo. Original limp vellum, front cover lettered in gilt, top edge gilt, others untrimmed, pictorial endpapers. Publisher's original slipcase with hand-numbered spine label. Colour frontispiece and 3 colour plates, black and white illustrations in the text, all by Rackham. Slight cockling to vellum, slipcase a little toned and worn with some minor splitting: a near-fine copy in a very good slipcase.
Seller: Peter Harrington. ABA/ ILAB., London, United Kingdom
Price: US$2584.34 + shipping
Description: First trade edition, first impression. Presentation copy from the artist and his wife, inscribed on the half-title: "To Fanny from Edyth & Arthur Rackham, Xmas 32" and with an accompanying pen-and-ink sketch of the King of the Golden River. Fanny Starkie was Rackham's sister-in-law. Latimore & Haskell, pp. 67-68; Riall, p. 176. Octavo. Original pictorial wrappers, pictorial endpapers. With dust jacket. Housed in a custom blue quarter morocco, fleece-lined solander box. Colour frontispiece and 3 colour plates, black and white illustrations in the text, by Rackham. Jacket light soiled, spine toned, some nicks, chips and creases, some foxing a marks to a few pages, slight ink blemishes in margin of frontispiece. A very good copy.
Seller: Peter Harrington. ABA/ ILAB., London, United Kingdom
Ruskin, John (Rackham, Arthur). The King of the Golden River. George G. Harrap, 1932.
Price: US$3000.00 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: First Edition. A sharp copy of this limited edition of 570 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$12598.68 + shipping
Description: Signed limited edition, number 318 of 570 copies signed by the artist. With a delightful original pen-and-ink and watercolour drawing by Rackham (signed and dated "Arthur Rackham 1932") on the limitation leaf, depicting the twelve year old Gluck opening the window to Southwest Wind, Esquire. Latimore & Haskell, pp. 67-68; Riall, p. 176. Octavo. Original limp vellum, titles to front cover gilt, top edge gilt, others untrimmed, pictorial endpapers. With the original slipcase (with hand-numbered spine label). Housed in a custom green quarter morocco, fleece-lined solander box. Colour frontispiece and 3 colour plates, black and white illustrations in the text, by Rackham. Endpapers cockled, vellum a little puckered at corners (both having occurred during the binding process: a common trait with this book). An excellent copy.
Seller: Peter Harrington. ABA/ ILAB., London, United Kingdom