The Wendy Calendar by Arthur Rackham

London : Hodder & Stoughton [1911]. Thick card envelope (284 x 367 mm, some stains and edge wear), printed title and tipped-on colour plate by Rackham, containing The Wendy Calendar, consisting of six cards printed in colour, each card with a pasted on colour plate by Rackham and a small calendar for two months of the year, the upper most moderately foxed and with the small paper calendar with ribbon tie, the other cards largely clean, with the original silk ribbon tie.

One of the most ephemeral Arthur Rackham publications.

Rackham’s London publishers Hodder & Stoughton published three calendars illustrated with plates from Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens (1906) by their star artist Arthur Rackham; The Peter Pan Calendar in 1910, The Queen Mab Calendar in 1911 and The Wendy Calendar in 1912. All are rare, The Peter Pan Calendar appears on WorldCat as being held in just two libraries (Universities of Oxford and Cambridge) and according to Rare Book Hub appearing at auction just twice (Christie’s London, 31 May 1996 for GBP 575 and Dominic Winter, 12 November 2008 for GBP 470). The Queen Mab Calendar is rarer, a single example located in institutions (the National Gallery of Australia) and a single example at auction 35 years ago (Swann Galleries, New York, May 19th 1983, for USD 1100).

The Wendy Calendar appears to be the rarest of the three, with no copies located in institutions and no copies in auction results.

An advertisement from Dymock’s Book Arcade (Sydney) placed in the Sydney Morning Herald, (2 December 1911), advertises the availability of The Wendy Calendar for the price of 5 shillings, alongside an Omar Khayyam calendar illustrated by Edmund Dulac for the same price (later advertisements on 9th and 16th December sees the price reduced to 4/6). It would appear some copies of the calendars were sent to Australia (this example was acquired in Sydney, and there is a Queen Mab calendar in Canberra) but were severely restricted in distribution. The Omar Khayyam calendar seems to be similarly elusive, with no copies recorded either at auction or in institutions.

A rare and beautiful publication from Hodder & Stoughton with Rackham illustrations from one of his most popular and enduring works.

Not in Riall.