Watership Down - Signed and Inscribed First Illustrated Edition
By Richard Adams
 
First illustrated edition, first impression:  Penguin Books Ltd and Kestrel Books, 1976. Originally published four years earlier in 1972. Signed and inscribed by the author to half-title verso: "To Mathew Brace, with all good wishes from the author, Richard Adams".
 
Quarto. Original brown cloth on cream boards, spine lettered in black with a black rabbit device. With the original illustrated dust jacket by John Lawrence, priced £8.75 net to the front flap.
 
A particularly well-preserved copy. The binding square and firm, the cloth clean and fresh. Internally bright and crisp, the paperstock clean and unmarked throughout. A fine copy.
 
The dust jacket bright and unfaded, with a nick to spine head and minor associated wear, and a tear to the bottom of the lower flap hinge. The colours remain notably fresh, the delicate landscape design retaining its original vibrancy. Very good, accompanied by the original pictorial slipcase in near fine condition with only mild instances of rubbing to the top and bottom edges.
 
The first illustrated edition of Adams’s enduring classic, featuring John Lawrence’s evocative wash and line drawings, which deepen the pastoral lyricism of the text. Originally published in 1972, Watership Down rapidly achieved canonical status in modern children’s literature and was adapted into a successful animated film in 1978.