Rip Van Winkle
These watercolor-and-ink drawings come from Rackham's 1905 illustrated edition of Washington Irving's classic story, Rip van Winkle (first published in 1819). The story follows a young Dutch-American villager living in the Catskill Mountains. After an argument with his wife, he wanders into the wildnerness. He helps a man carry a keg up a mountain pass, discovering a group of odd old men playing nine pins (an old-fashioned version of bowling). He sits down and drinks some of the liquor from the keg, falling asleep. He wakes up 20 years later. He returns to his village as an old man, bewildered and confused, having missed the entire American Revolution.
Young Rip van Winkle
This illustration depicts a young Rip Van Winkle, drinking the liquor which will put him to sleep for 20 long years,
Rip Van Winkle and townsfolk
Rip Van Winkle returns to his village shortly after an election has taken place, declaring himself to be a loyal subject of King George III (to everyone's dismay).
