Watership Down (Signed Limited Edition)

ADAMS, Richard (illus. John Lawrence). Watership Down. London: Paradine Press, 1976.

8vo. Full dark green crushed morocco by Sangorski & Sutcliffe. Upper cover with gilt rabbit vignette. Spine with five raised bands, gilt vignettes in compartments and gilt titling. Gilt-decorated dentelles. All edges gilt. Marbled endpapers. Tipped-in original watercolour frontispiece by John Lawrence, signed by the artist. Signed by Richard Adams on the title page. x, 550 pp., with colour and black-and-white illustrations throughout and folding colour map. New foreword by the author, exclusive to this edition. Housed in original marbled board slipcase. First illustrated edition. Limited to 250 numbered copies, this being number 127.

Richard Adams began telling the story of Hazel, Fiver, and the other rabbits to his two daughters on long car journeys in the early 1970s. When he wrote it down, thirteen publishers rejected it before Rex Collings accepted it in 1972. From that unpromising start, Watership Down became one of the most widely read novels of the second half of the twentieth century. It remains Penguin's best-selling novel of all time, winner of the Carnegie Medal and the Guardian Prize, and a book that continues to find new readers through the generations.

This Paradine Press edition of 1976 is the first illustrated edition of the novel, and by far the most distinguished form in which it has been published. John Lawrence, renowned as one of the foremost British illustrators of his generation, contributed colour and black-and-white illustrations throughout. The volume is also fronted by an original watercolour and is signed by Lawrence. The binding was commissioned from Sangorski & Sutcliffe and is a production of exceptional quality by one of the great London binderies. A new foreword by Adams, not published elsewhere, completes the edition.

Near fine. Slipcase near fine, some foxing to inner surfaces. Binding near fine, leather supple, gilt bright. Contents fine; some pages with very faint age markings, pages otherwise fresh, edge gilt bright. Illustrated plates beautifully preserved with colours still true.

This book is currently on display in our Paddington store. If you would like more information or to arrange a viewing, please contact: rarebooks@harryhartog.com.au