2008 Signed Limited First Edition - Wind in the Willows by Charles van Sandwyk

The 2008 Folio Society Centenary Edition of Kenneth Grahame’s The Wind in the Willows, illustrated by Charles van Sandwyk and limited to 1,000 copies, with an original signed and numbered copperplate etching.

Author: Kenneth Grahame; illustrated by Charles van Sandwyk.
Title: The Wind in the Willows.
Publisher: London, The Folio Society, 2008.
Edition: Centenary limited edition of 1,000 copies; this copy numbered 322/1000, with an original copperplate etching signed and numbered by Charles van Sandwyk.
Language: English.
Pages: 266.
Size: Book approximately 13 × 10 inches; solander box approximately 14 × 11 inches.
Binding: Quarter vellum with grey Oxford paper sides; upper board decorated in gilt, silver and brown with Rat and Mole in a boat, among reeds, dragonflies and foliage. Gilt spine decoration and titles; gilt and coloured figure of Toad on the rear board. Removable mylar cover. Original green cloth-covered solander box with gilt-lettered spine label, near fine with a small bump to one outer corner.
Content: Fine; clean and bright throughout, retaining the limitation leaf and the original copperplate etching, numbered 322 and signed in pencil by the artist.
Illustrations: Colour plates, black-and-white drawings, borders, chapter ornaments and vignettes by Charles van Sandwyk; includes the original signed and numbered copperplate etching.

Estimate: USD 2,000–3,000.

The book: Published in 2008 to mark the centenary of Kenneth Grahame’s novel, this Folio Society edition was issued in a limitation of 1,000 copies. Charles van Sandwyk supplied a substantial programme of illustrations and an original copperplate etching, signed and numbered for each copy. The large-format volume is presented in its original solander box; this example is numbered 322.

First published in 1908, The Wind in the Willows follows Mole, Rat, Badger and Toad through the landscapes of the River Bank and Wild Wood. The book combines animal fantasy with themes of friendship, home and the natural world. The illustrated edition brings van Sandwyk’s detailed natural imagery into dialogue with Grahame’s text.

The author: Kenneth Grahame (1859–1932) was a Scottish-born British writer best known for The Wind in the Willows. Episodes of the novel developed from stories he told his son Alastair, and its characters have remained prominent in English children’s literature.

The illustrator: Charles van Sandwyk is a Canadian artist, illustrator and author whose work encompasses drawing, watercolour and etching. His illustrations of animals and natural settings draw on traditions of fine book illustration. For this centenary edition, he created both the illustrations accompanying the text and the separately signed copperplate etching.