Lot Essay
By 1928, George G Harrap became Rackham's sole British publisher which would have been of great encouragement to Rackham assuring the immediate improvement of the quality of the production of his books. During this time, Rackham was delighted to take on the commission to illustrate Hans Andersen's Fairy Tales which was to be the major Christmas Gift Book for 1932. In 1931, Rackham visited Denmark with his daughter Barbara. In his Note in the book, he describes how this allowed him: "just that nearer view of the author's country that I needed - a view that helped me to realize again the sensation I felt as a child when I first read Andersen." His favourite undertaking for Harrap, Rackham included a limited amount of 9 original watercolour illustrations that were to be bound within the books, an example of which is portrayed in this charming illustration of "The Little Mermaid".