Arthur Rackham: Epilogue

Illustration from "Rip Van Winkle"
by Arthur Rackham

"Under the shadow of the opening of the Second World War, Rackham’s death received less attention in the Press than it would have done at another time. The obituary notice in The Times described him as ‘one of the most eminent book illustrators of his day’ with ‘a special place in the hearts of children’, and contrasted his belief in ‘the sacrosanct quality of the text’ with an ‘unmistakable personal idiosyncrasy’. ‘His genius had something of the Gothic flavour … his line was in the last degree sensitive.’ 

In December 1939, the memorial exhibition at the Leicester Galleries brought together examples of Rackham’s finest work from his best period, together with several of his landscapes and the majority of the principal drawings for Poe’s 'Tales,' 'Peer Gynt,' and 'The Wind in the Willows.'

'The Wind in the Willows,' with Rackham’s last illustrations, was published in New York by the Limited Editions Club in 1940. On this volume Bruce Rogers, greatest of American book designers, lavished all his skill. The drawings were not generally known in ​England until Methuen published a popular edition at a guinea in 1950, omitting a few of the plates, including the frontispiece in which Toad, disguised as a washerwoman, attempts to bargain with the booking-clerk at the railway station – a clerk who bears an unmistakable resemblance to Arthur Rackham.  

Rackham’s will, drawn up in favour of his wife and daughter, was proved at nearly £25,000. Mrs Rackham did not long survive her husband. She died in March 1941, aged seventy-three.

As Rackham’s death occurred in the early days of the war, it proved impossible to fulfil his wish for cremation at Golders Green because the undertakers, fearful of air raids that did not happen, refused to venture into London. His funeral therefore took place at Croydon. When Mrs Rackham died, heavy air raids were such everyday occurrences that no objections were raised. Edyth Rackham was cremated at Golders Green, and her ashes were then scattered with her husband’s in the Garden of Remembrance there. 

Since his death Rackham’s prestige in the book-collectors’ market has been fully maintained. It is understandable that such a prolific illustrator, who kept up a remarkably high standard of achievement over a very long period, should have become a focus of interest.  Altogether, the hunt for books illustrated by Rackham has already provided much pleasure for those who are disposed to take it up, and may well provide a great deal more, whatever the current prices may happen to be (and they will always vary according to the circumstances of a sale and the condition of the book). His reward has been not only a world-wide reputation but the affection felt by a multitude, young and old, for the ‘Beloved Enchanter’, ‘Le Peintre Sorcier’."

The End

(Excerpts from "Arthur Rackham: His Life and Work" by Derek Hudson.)