Arthur Rackham

Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens (pub 1906) was originally part of an earlier work, The Little White Bird by J.M. Barrie. The Peter Pan chapters were  extracted and published as a separate work in 1906. The colour plates of Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens by Arthur Rackham made the book and illustrator immediately popular. 

Cartography of Peter Pan

Above :A Child's Map of Kensington Gardens, from The Little White Bird (1902)

Above: Map of Kensington Gardens by Arthur Rackham, 1907.

Above: A detailed map of Peter Pan's Kensington Gardens by Leslie MacDonald Gill, a noted early-twentieth-century British graphic designer, cartographer, artist and architect. (1923)

Above:1953 Walt Disney Map of Neverland

Above: Vintage souvenir ‘Never Never Land’ map. 1956

Above: John Hench  & Al Dempster map for Disney, 1953. 

Above: Ink and watercolour wash illustration from Joel Stewart’s artwork for the J M Barrie classic children’s story, Peter Pan, published by Alma Books in 2015

Angel Dominguez

 

Voluptuously rich illustrations in content, scale and rendition by Spanish illustrator Angel Dominguez (1953-2021) for a limited boxed edition of only 200 Published in Great Britain in 2016 by Books Illustrated Ltd.

"Sometimes some sketches on pencil are better than the finished work; the pencil is the soul on each drawing, that's why I leave some traces of it"

Angel was greatly inspired by Arthur  Rackham and in 2009 he said "As yet I haven’t illustrated The Wind in the Willows… I only drew a pair of watercolors… and already they have been sold in England. They have yet to see the light in the form of a book… who knows, may be that will be my last book to illustrate, as Rackham himself did.".

Arthur Rackham

 

Arthur Rackham (1867–1939) In 1906 Arthur Rackham was approached to illustrate The Wind in the Willows, but had had to decline the offer due to a deadline for A Midsummer Night’s Dream in 1908. 

In the  summer of 1936 George Macy suggested that Arthur illustrated The Wind in the Willows.

Due to Arthurs failing health, the illustrations for The Wind in the Willows took him three years to complete. A perfectionist, Arthur would not rest until he was satisfied with the appearance of each illustration. The Wind in the Willows was Arthur Rackham's last completed illustrated work before he died on September 6, 1939. 

It was published in 1940 by George Macy’s company, the Limited Editions Club, in New York City. 

Slowly, the drawings for The Wind in the Willows were developed. The last drawing of all to be completed was that of Rat and Mole loading their boat for a picnic. Arthur's daughter Barbara remembered her fathers great exhaustion and etreme difficulty he was having in getting it all done. When he had, as he thought, finished it, he suddenly discovered that there were no oars in the boat.

Barbara had tried to pursued him that this detail did not matter, but he insisted that everything must be right, and with immense effort altered the drawing and included the oars. After he had done this, he lay back in his bed and said,"Thank goodness, that is the last one".