Back to photostream

Rip Van Winkle by Washington Irving. London: William Heinemann, 1905. First Rackham Trade Edition

This illustrated edition of “Rip Van Winkle” contains 51 mounted color plates by Arthur Rackham. Rip is a henpecked husband who loathes “profitable labor” and who wanders off to the Catskill Mountains where he meets the ghosts of Henry Hudson’s crew playing ninepins. He drinks some of their moonshine, soon falls asleep and wakes up some twenty years later, having slept through the American Revolution. The story was first published in 1819 as part of a short story collection entitled “The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.” Although the story is set in New York’s Catskill Mountains, Irving later admitted, “When I wrote the story, I had never been on the Catskills.” [Source: Wikipedia]

 

 

3,826 views
5 faves
0 comments
Uploaded on September 13, 2014
Taken on September 12, 2014