PETER PAN IN KENSINGTON GARDENS

First trade edition, first printing. Original russet cloth with gilt titles to the spine and upper board, along with a gilt illustration. Illustrated with a frontispiece and 49 further colour plates by Arthur Rackham tipped in on heavy grey cardstock with captioned tissue guards. A very good or better copy, the binding square and firm with some bumping and minor fraying at the spine tips and rubbing to the spine edges. The cloth and gilt remain bright. The contents, with heavy spotting to the half title, much less so to the remaining prelims and occasionally to the text page margins, are otherwise clean and bright throughout. All 50 plates, together with their captioned tissue guards, are present as called for and in fine condition without corner creases or marks.

Peter Pan first appeared in the chapters 13 to 18 of J. M. Barrie's 1902 novel "The Little White Bird". Barrie extracted the story and following the success of his Rip Van Winkle illustrations (1905), asked Arthur Rackham to provide the illustrations. The resulting first edition of Peter Pan In Kensington Gardens became not only a highlight of golden age book illustration, but for many, their first introduction to "the boy who wouldn't grow up".