Arthur Rackham: A Life With Illustration [Hardcover]

James Hamilton (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: April 1994

This monograph looks at Arthur Rackham and uses diaries, letters, personal belongings and a wealth of information from his family in order to provide a picture of the artist. The author not only includes the more famous watercolour paintings of fairies and goblins, enchanted kingdoms and dark forests, but also includes his portraits and watercolours.

Editorial Reviews

Review

"Examining the work of the illustrator Arthur Rackham, this monograph chases his achievements throughout his illustration career." —The San Francisco Book Review     --This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

About the Author

James Hamilton is an art historian, biographer, and museum curator. He is the author of a number of art and historical biographies, including Faraday: The Life, The Sculpture of Austin Wright, Turner and Italy, and Turner: A Life, which was short-listed for the James Tait Black Memorial Award.

--This text refers to an alternate Hardcover edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 192 pages
• Publisher: Trafalgar Square (April 1994)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1851455310
• ISBN-13: 978-1851455317
• Product Dimensions: 12.5 x 9.5 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 3.2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #6,853,182 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

61 of 62 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Definitive bio of Rackham with hundreds of illustrations., January 30, 1999

By A Customer

This review is from: Arthur Rackham: A Life with Illustration (Hardcover)

Hamilton's 1990 work is the definitive modern biography of the great English Edwardian-era book illustrator Arthur Rackham. In addition to a splendid if somewhat hagiographic text, this oversized volume contains hundreds of examples of Rackham's best work in color and black-and-white and includes many items that have not previously been reproduced. Rackham was chiefly an illustrator of childrens' books and his unusual, indeed unique work has well stood the test of time. The soft-cover version now available is attractively priced and makes a fine, imaginative gift even for people who have never heard of Arthur Rackham.

13 of 13 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Must for any Rackham Fan, February 27, 2011

By 

Heidi Anne Heiner (SurLaLune Fairy Tales.com) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Arthur Rackham: A Life with Illustration (Hardcover)

This is a beautiful book. It is not a brand new book with this 2011 edition, it was originally published in 1990 but was out-of-print and became an expensive used book. This new edition is a great way for the author to earn the money he has earned by offering such an excellent overview of Rackham's life and work.

Hands down, this edition has some of the best quality reproductions of Rackham's work since the original publications of Rackham's work, perhaps even better than some of those. They certainly aren't yellowed with age! They are crisp, not muddy, and even more stunning as a result. A bonus is that the "usual suspects" are not as common here but the book offers many of the lesser distributed, seldom reproduced illustrations, in other words, ones you haven't seen everywhere before. If you own as much Rackham as I do, this book is still a treasure. If you own none or a little, this is an excellent way to start.

Hamilton also shares compelling insights into Rackham's life and work. For being so well recognized in his art, Rackham's life wasn't as well understood until this book was originally published. There's also interesting rather unusual appendices such as "The Business of Illustration and How Rackham Made It Pay" and "Arthur Rackham's Pattern of Earnings." Fascinating stuff. He was more than a genius at art, he was a successful businessman.