Poor Archie's Girls

London: Smith, Elder & Co, 1882. First Edition. 3 vols., 8vo (195 x 137mm), pp. [4], 272; [4], 277, [3]; [4], 288. Publisher’s smooth tan cloth with a decorative design blocked in olive-green over boards, lettered in gold on the spines, blocked in blind on the back covers, floral-patterned endpapers in burgundy. Modest foxing to the back of the free endpapers and facing title and final text pages, light rubbing to the extremities, else near fine and scarce. OCLC locates only 6 copies. Kathleen Knox (1847–1930) was an Ulster-Scots author and poet, born in Belfast to a prominent clerical family; her father, Charles George Knox, served as Vicar-General of Down and Connor. She is best known for her contributions to children's literature, including Father Time's Story Book (1873), Fairy Gifts (1875, illustrated by Kate Greenaway), and Captain Eva (1880), works praised in their time for their moral and imaginative qualities. In later life she published under the pseudonym Edward Kane. Poor Archie's Girls represents a departure into adult three-volume fiction.