J. M. Barrie, "Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens", pictures by Arthur Rackham, 16 color plates and many b/w illustrations and decorations, published by Scribner, New York, 1913, First Edition, Later Printing with Scribner's colophon present on the copyright page. [note: first printing was issued with 50 color plates in 1906].

This edition includes sixteen tissue-protected color plates by Arthur Rackham in addition to many other illustrations in black and white, plus a full color illustration mounted to the front cover.

Sir James Matthew Barrie (1860-1937), better known as J.M. Barrie, Scottish journalist, playwright, and children's book writer, became world famous with his story about Peter Pan. Along with "The Peter Pan" "Little Minister" is considered one of Barrie's best books.

For it was in 1897 that Barrie became acquainted with the three little boys in Kensington Gardens: five-year-old George, four-year-old Jack, and baby brother Peter, who came to play in the park each day attended by their nanny. They talked about cricket, pirates, and fairies; he dazzled them by the way he could wiggle his ears; and before long, Barrie was meeting up with the boys on a regular basis.
Barrie's "Peter Pan" is human-born, not a fairy, but he's lived in Never Land so long that he's as much a fairy as he is a boy: magical, capricious, and amoral, like the fairies of the old Scots tradition. He's a complex mixture of good and bad. He's a liminal creature, standing on the threshold between fairy and child, mortal and immortal, villain (when he lures children from their homes) and hero (when he rescues them from pirates).

Daily life went on. Barrie continued to write, and "Peter Pan" continued to cast its spell, becoming the most famous of Barrie's works. The tale of Peter Pan as a baby, originally published in "The Little White Bird", was now available in a separate children's book edition, called "Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens", with illustrations by Arthur Rackham. Barrie's literary star continued to rise, and he was awarded a baronetcy in 1913 in recognition of his status as one of the best loved authors in Britain."

Arthur Rackham [1867 - 1939], a famous British illustrator.

Although acknowledged as an accomplished black-and-white book illustrator for some years, it was the publication of his full colour plates to Washington Irving's "Rip Van Winkle" by Heinemann in 1905 that particularly brought him into public attention, his reputation being confirmed the following year with J.M. Barrie's "Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens". Income from the books was greatly augmented by annual exhibitions of the artwork at the Leicester Galleries. Rackham won a gold medal at the Milan International Exhibition in 1906 and another one at the Barcelona International Exposition in 1912. His works were included in numerous exhibitions, including one at the Louvre in Paris in 1914.

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Olive cloth [some staining: see pictures], lettered in gilt, 126 pages. There is an old dump stain at the top of the pages [see pictures]; good hinges, the endpapers are not creased, sound text block. Hard cover, 7. 3/4" x 9. 1/4", inscription on the front endpaper dated “August 1914”, very good binding and condition. [l5ib]