Illustrator – Arthur Rackham

My friend Amy and I scoured the Portland Antique Expo this weekend and boy, did we have fun! While neither of us were looking for anything in particular, we both walked away with some amazing finds. For me, this included some book plates from the amazing turn-of-the-19th-century illustrator named Arthur Rackham.


I spied the image above on the outside of a binder. It grabbed my attention right away since I've long been an ardent fan of modern-day Austrian illustrator Lisbeth Zwerger. I fell in love years ago with her charming style of depicting Brother Grimm fairy tales and have a sizable collection of children's books that she's illustrated (sizable for someone who doesn't have children!)


I found the above Zwerger postcard a few years back at Ikea, and it hung in my design library for several years – until that room was transformed into my Cecily Ink shipping center.

Arthur Rackham's work has this same nostalgic and fairytale quality (he also has illustrated numerous Brother Grimm fairytales along with many other writings). I simply couldn't leave the antique show without these bookplates:


A couple of them are torn, but I'm sure I'll find a way to display these gorgeous illustrations (collage...decoupage...torn edges on all around...I have options!)


After Googling Arthur Rackham (how much harder was life without the Internet!), I found several sites that explain about his life and art and even offer posters for sale. Hm, I may have to start collecting his posters, too, and find a new room to display both of these illustrators...