THE IMPACT OF 1914
of view, a partnership that has often been productive of good. But the most fascinating form of illustration consists of the expression by the artist of an individual sense of delight or emotion aroused by the accompanying passage of literature.’
Rackham’s surviving correspondence shows that he was now in touch with almost as many authors as artists. There are letters in these and later years from Laurence Housman, Edmund Gosse, Alfred Noyes, Arthur Symons, Rudyard Kipling (whose Puck of Pook’s Hill he illustrated for an American edition), Maurice Hewlett, James Stephens, Eden Phillpotts. Much of his correspondence related to commissions that eventually matured; more, perhaps, to abortive projects that came to nothing. And occasionally there are isolated notes, not easily explained, that provokingly suggest the width of his acquaintanceship, as with the following postcard from Bernard Shaw:
‘I am afraid I can’t say Yes or No straight off – that is, if you can leave the question of my coming open. I have had an accident which has disabled my motor car. If it can be repaired in time to take me out of town on Sunday morning I can stay over Saturday night. If not, I must go away by train on Saturday afternoon. If I can come, may I bring my wife?
‘I am greatly hurt at your calling me a slight acquaintance. I regard you as quite an old pal.
‘I adore Sumurun.
‘Many thanks for the invitation.
G.B.S.’
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