[ALS] Autograph Letter Signed with Original Handwritten Envelope Regarding Plagiarism of his Work

by RACKHAM, Arthur

[30 Day Return Guarantee] Price: $1,500.00

Book Description

London , 1933. ALS from Arthur Rackham dated July 28, 1933, two pages folded, with handwritten envelope with his return address. The letter is to Julia Smith Berrall of Montclair, NJ and is in reply to her letter of July 15, 1933, in which she brought to Mr. Rackham's attention that the Metropolitan Life building in New York City had commissioned the artist Edward Trumbull to create murals for their building and that he had blatantly copied images from Rackham's own illustrations for Rip Van Winkle and Legend of Sleepy Hollow. She asked Rackham if he had consented to the usage. Mr. Rackham responds "I know nothing about Mr. Trumbull's theft - for it is nothing less". He goes on to say that he will investigate whether or not Trumbull was operating within the law. He writes that he finds it "A strange mentality that allows one artist to lift the work of another without even the courtesy of an acknowledgment." Included here in this archive are: a copy of the letter sent from Mrs. Berrall to Arthur Rackham, a letter from Publisher's Weekly to Mrs. Berrall regarding the supposed resolution of the matter, a copy of the Pencil Pojnts May 1933 issue with the article on the Metropolitan Life murals, and an article by bookseller Jesse Mann of Madison, NJ who received the letters after the passing of Mrs. Berrall. Also included is an article Mann wrote for the "Book Collector" Summer 1996 issue detailing the entire affair entitled "A Little Known Incident of Plagiarism in the Career of Arthur Rackham". Mrs. Berrall's correspondence is dated July 15th and Rackham's reply is dated July 28th, which, for 1933, is a very fast turn-around for trans-Atlantic mail. It seems to indicate how seriously Rackham took this matter. Plagiarism is, one could argue, a form of flattery but Mr. Rackham was clearly not flattered. Certainly a very rare and desirable letter from the hand of the legendary artist Arthur Rackham.

Bookseller Terms of Sale

TBA