Some British Ballads.

London: Constable & Co. Ltd,, [1919]. Reviving the "pre-war sumptuousness" of the gift book market Signed limited edition, number 260 of 575 copies signed and numbered by the artist. Some British Ballads collects 44 songs and poems from across the country. One contemporary review celebrated how "illustrated gift books have regained this year all their pre-war sumptuousness. With memories of war paper still vivid in the mind it restores one's faith in the possibility of a return to the normal in other things to handle a volume like 'Some British Ballads'... The publishers have given the ballads a setting worthy of them, and Mr Rackham's drawings are well up to the level that has made him the most popular of illustrators" (Dublin Evening Telegraph, 24 December 1919). Quarto. Original vellum-backed cream boards, spine and front cover lettered in gilt, gilt vignette on covers, top edge gilt, others uncut. Colour frontispiece and 15 tipped-in colour plates with captioned tissue guards printed in red, line drawings in the text, all by Rackham. Binding soiled, tiny splash marks on front cover, spine foot and upper corners bumped, lower corners worn, front pastedown with red residue from removed bookplate, mild offsetting to outer leaves, occasional spots of foxing, contents otherwise fresh, plates bright. A very good copy. Latimore & Haskell pp. 50-51; Riall, p. 137.