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    By Charles Kingsley
    London   Macmillan and Co.
    8" by 6" (5) 350pp.
    A scarce first edition, first issue of Kingsley's noted work, The Water Babies, with the exceptionally scarce L'envoi leaf.
    By Charles Kingsley

    1863 The Water-Babies A Fairy Take for a Land-Baby

    London   Macmillan and Co.
    8" by 6" (5) 350pp.
    A scarce first edition, first issue of Kingsley's noted work, The Water Babies, with the exceptionally scarce L'envoi leaf.
    £1,375.00
    : 0.75kgs / : 822K21
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    Description

    First Edition, Illustrated, Rebound

    The first edition, first issue with the exceptionally scarce L'envoi leaf. During publication, Kingsley had second thoughts regarding the inclusion of the poem, and had the leaf removed, but not before approximately two hundred copies of the book had been printed. With two full page plates by J. Noel Paton. Bound without the advertisement leaf. Rebound in half morocco. With the bookplate of Raymond Richards to front pastedown. Contemporary gift inscription to front blank. The Water-Babies is a canonical children's work, written in part as satire, in support of Charles Darwin's 'The Origin of Species'. The book quickly became an extremely popular and influential work of British children's literature, following the story of Tom, a young chimney sweep, who becomes a 'water-baby' and begins a moral education.

    Condition

    In a half morocco binding with cloth covered boards. Externally smart with rubbing to the extremities and the head and tail of the spine. The odd mark to the boards. With the bookplate of Raymond Richards to front pastedown. Contemporary gift inscription to front blank. Hinge is strained after frontispiece. Bookplate to front pastedown. Internally firmly bound. Page bright and clean with just the odd spot, heavier to the first and last few pages.

    Very Good

    Delivery & payment

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