Arthur Rackham created the artwork for J. M. Barrie’s 1906 book Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens.
Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens expands material that first appeared in Barrie’s 1902 novel The Little White Bird. The book tells how Peter becomes a birdlike, magical boy living in London’s Kensington Gardens, before the later Neverland adventures familiar from the play and Peter and Wendy.
Rackham was one of the leading British illustrators of the golden age of illustrated books. His intricate line work and atmospheric color plates gave Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens a darker, more storybook-like appearance than many modern adaptations. His images helped establish an enduring visual identity for Barrie’s early Peter.
The book is sometimes mistaken for the later novel Peter and Wendy, published in 1911. They are related but different works. Rackham illustrated the Kensington Gardens volume; the 1911 prose novel is associated with illustrations by F. D. Bedford.