Bound in full crushed red morocco by Sotheran, with decorative gilt borders, raised bands, decorative gilt panels, gilt spine ti
1863 · London & Cambridge
by Kingsley, Charles
London & Cambridge: Macmillan and Co, 1863. Bound in full crushed red morocco by Sotheran, with decorative gilt borders, raised bands, decorative gilt panels, gilt spine title, inside dentelles, top edge gilt. 8vo. Bound in full crushed red morocco by Sotheran, with decorative gilt borders, raised bands, decorative gilt panels, gilt spine title, inside dentelles, top edge gilt. [viii], [3], 4-350, 1 blank pages. Illustrated by Noel Paton. "Just Another Destitute Little Chimney-Sweep"
or
"The Oddest Fairy Tale That There Has Ever Been?
First edition. Grolier 100, 34. Bookplate of Irwin Laughlin on front pastedown. Rubbed along hinges and corners, else a fine copy. A lovely binding. With two illustrations by J. Noel Paton (Inserted frontispiece and full-page illustration opposite p. 145. ) and with a number of small illustrations used throughout as opening initials. Printed by R. Clay, Son, and Taylor, Printers.
Without the L'Envoi leaf as is almost always encountered as the author had it removed from all but the first 200 or so copies. The difference between the first and second states is solely the removal of the L'Envoi leaf. The first state "contains a leaf bearing a poem, L'Envoi. Kingsley had second thoughts about this while the book was being printed, and he had the leaf removed, but not before a few hundred copies of the book had already gone forth." (Gottlieb, Early Children's Books and Their Illustration, 113). A very beautiful and very handsome copy, the text wonderfully bright and clean for this title, the fine binding. SCARCE FIRST EDITION IN A WONDERFUL BINDING BY SOTHERAN. Kingsley's WATER BABIES was extremely popular and remained a mainstay of English children's literature for many decades. Kingsley wrote the work as part satire in support for Darwin's 'Origin of Species', which Kingsley had been one of the earliest public figures to praise. Within the tale Kingsley alludes to debates among biologists of its day, satirizing and at various times referring to Sir Roderick Murchison, Professor Richard Owen, Professor Thomas Henry Huxley, and of course, "Mr. Darwin" They, and the science of the period become explicitly part of the story. The story is also thematically concerned with Christian redemption, and Kingsley also used the book to argue that England treated its poor badly, and to question child labour. Unfortunate common prejudices of its day, particularly in reference to Americans, Jews, blacks, Catholics and the Irish, have led to the story's fall from popularity.
"Charles Kingsley was a rural vicar in Victorian England, and the "land-baby" of the sub-title was his youngest son, five-year-old Grenville Arthur. In writing this fairy tale about the underwater adventures of Tom, a chimney-sweep's climbing-boy, Kingsley uttered many a sermon. But along with his zeal for Anglican Christianity he also brought into play his enthusiasm for nature and his strong sense of indignation at the Victorian practice of using small children as laborers. (Inventory #: 137951)
or
"The Oddest Fairy Tale That There Has Ever Been?
First edition. Grolier 100, 34. Bookplate of Irwin Laughlin on front pastedown. Rubbed along hinges and corners, else a fine copy. A lovely binding. With two illustrations by J. Noel Paton (Inserted frontispiece and full-page illustration opposite p. 145. ) and with a number of small illustrations used throughout as opening initials. Printed by R. Clay, Son, and Taylor, Printers.
Without the L'Envoi leaf as is almost always encountered as the author had it removed from all but the first 200 or so copies. The difference between the first and second states is solely the removal of the L'Envoi leaf. The first state "contains a leaf bearing a poem, L'Envoi. Kingsley had second thoughts about this while the book was being printed, and he had the leaf removed, but not before a few hundred copies of the book had already gone forth." (Gottlieb, Early Children's Books and Their Illustration, 113). A very beautiful and very handsome copy, the text wonderfully bright and clean for this title, the fine binding. SCARCE FIRST EDITION IN A WONDERFUL BINDING BY SOTHERAN. Kingsley's WATER BABIES was extremely popular and remained a mainstay of English children's literature for many decades. Kingsley wrote the work as part satire in support for Darwin's 'Origin of Species', which Kingsley had been one of the earliest public figures to praise. Within the tale Kingsley alludes to debates among biologists of its day, satirizing and at various times referring to Sir Roderick Murchison, Professor Richard Owen, Professor Thomas Henry Huxley, and of course, "Mr. Darwin" They, and the science of the period become explicitly part of the story. The story is also thematically concerned with Christian redemption, and Kingsley also used the book to argue that England treated its poor badly, and to question child labour. Unfortunate common prejudices of its day, particularly in reference to Americans, Jews, blacks, Catholics and the Irish, have led to the story's fall from popularity.
"Charles Kingsley was a rural vicar in Victorian England, and the "land-baby" of the sub-title was his youngest son, five-year-old Grenville Arthur. In writing this fairy tale about the underwater adventures of Tom, a chimney-sweep's climbing-boy, Kingsley uttered many a sermon. But along with his zeal for Anglican Christianity he also brought into play his enthusiasm for nature and his strong sense of indignation at the Victorian practice of using small children as laborers. (Inventory #: 137951)