By the turn of the century, Rackham had developed a reputation for pen and ink fantasy illustration with richly illustrated gift books such as "The Ingoldsby Legends" (1898), "Gulliver's Travels" and "Fairy Tales of the Brothers Grimm" (both 1900). This was developed further through the austere years of the Boer War with regular contributions to children's periodicals such as "Little Folks" and "Cassell's Magazine". In 1901 he moved to Wychcombe Studios near Haverstock Hill, and in 1903 married his neighbour Edyth Starkie. Edith suffered a miscarriage in 1904, but the couple had one daughter, Barbara, in 1908. Although acknowledged as an accomplished black-and-white book illustrator for some years, it was the publication of his full colour plates to Washington Irving's "Rip Van Winkle" by Heinemann in 1905 that particularly brought him into public attention, his reputation being confirmed the following year with J.M.Barrie's "Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens", published by Hodder & Stoughton. Income from the books was greatly augmented by annual exhibitions of the artwork at the Leicester Galleries. Rackham won a gold medal at the Milan International Exhibition in 1906 and another one at the Barcelona International Exposition in 1912. His works were included in numerous exhibitions, including one at the Louvre in Paris in 1914.