A hundred yards away, at the bottom of the slope, ran the brook, no more than three feet wide, half choked with kingcups, watercress and blue brooklime.

In places the grass was gone altogether and everywhere there were clusters of dry droppings, through which nothing but the ragwort would grow. On the other side of the fence, the upper part of the field was full of rabbit holes. Toward the edge of the wood, where the ground became open and sloped down to an old fence and a brambly ditch beyond, only a few fading patches of pale yellow still showed among the dog’s mercury and oak-tree roots. The stench is like a breath from the tomb. How so? ’Tis but the odor of the altar sacrifice. The house reeks of death and dripping blood. Why do you cry out thus, unless at some vision of horror? Led by a stouthearted pair of brothers, they journey forth from their native Sandleford Warren through the harrowing trials posed by predators and adversaries, to a mysterious promised land and a more perfect society.Ī book that speaks to our society as vividly as it did nearly half a century ago, this keepsake Scribner Classic edition showcases more than twenty sumptuous, evocative tip-in paintings from Aldo Galli, an illustrator chosen by Richard Adams himself. Set in England’s Downs, a once idyllic rural landscape, this stirring tale of adventure, courage, and survival follows a band of very special rabbits on their flight from the intrusion of man and the certain destruction of their home. Discover-or revisit-the enchanting world of the Sandleford Warren rabbits in this first-ever illustrated edition of a celebrated modern classic.Ī phenomenal worldwide bestseller for almost forty years, Richard Adams’s Watership Down is a timeless classic and one of the most beloved novels of all time.

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