The Wind in the Willows revisited through its illustrators by John Ericson.

The beauty of Kenneth Grahame’s prose is widely acknowledged but the story is so full of wonderful imagery that it almost demands to be illustrated. First published in 1908 without illustration, the classic tale has been in print ever since, and during that time it has been illustrated by more than ninety artists, making it the most illustrated book in the English language.
It is a far more interesting book than its popular and young audience may appreciate. It deserves recognition as a novel in which adult readers will find not just humour and entertainment, but wisdom and meaning. This engaging presentation will revisit the story as depicted by numerous well-known illustrators, including of course E H Shepherd and Arthur Rackham.
It will also explore how the story came to be written for Grahame’s son Alastair and the interesting but ultimately tragic life of Kenneth Grahame himself.