signed first edition
1905 · London
by [Greenaway, Kate]; M.H. Spielmann; and G.S. Layard
London: Adam and Charles Black, 1905. Edition de Luxe. Near Fine. Number 181 of 500 numbered copies, signed by the artist's brother, John Greenaway. Large quarto (10 1/2 x 8 1/8 inches; 267 x 206 mm.). xix, [1], 300, [1], [3, blank] pp. Color frontispiece and fifty-three color plates after Kate Greenaway, with descriptive tissue guards, and numerous black and white illustrations, including thirty-four half-tone plates. Publisher's white cloth over beveled boards, front cover and spine lettered in gilt and decoratively stamped in blind in a geometric and floral design. Top edge gilt. Color pictorial endpapers. A near fine copy.
All 500 copies of the Edition de Luxe have original Kate Greenaway artwork bound in. The first ten copies have watercolors bound in, and beginning with copy No. 11, each copy has an original pencil sketch. This example has an exceptional original pencil sketch by Kate Greenaway depicting a young girl, standing facing left, wearing a long dress with an empire waist, big puffy sleeves, and a wide sash with a bow at the back. At upper right, are detailed sketches of her arms, wearing long fingerless gloves, resting on a surface.
"Victorian-era children's book artist and author Kate Greenaway (1846-1901) began her career during the early 1870s illustrating greeting cards," (NYPL) but she soon turned her successful brush towards book illustration. "Like fellow illustrators Walter Crane and Randolph Caldecott, Greenaway sought to publish innovative children's works of the highest quality. Her focus on depictions of children, however, set her illustrations apart from those of her contemporaries. Greenaway's work is cherished today for its unaffected, pastoral imagery" (NYPL). Her romantic conception of childhood was based in part on her own experiences. Famous critic John Ruskin was known to be a huge admirer of her art.
Schuster & Engen 226. Thomson 400. Near Fine. (Inventory #: 6296)
All 500 copies of the Edition de Luxe have original Kate Greenaway artwork bound in. The first ten copies have watercolors bound in, and beginning with copy No. 11, each copy has an original pencil sketch. This example has an exceptional original pencil sketch by Kate Greenaway depicting a young girl, standing facing left, wearing a long dress with an empire waist, big puffy sleeves, and a wide sash with a bow at the back. At upper right, are detailed sketches of her arms, wearing long fingerless gloves, resting on a surface.
"Victorian-era children's book artist and author Kate Greenaway (1846-1901) began her career during the early 1870s illustrating greeting cards," (NYPL) but she soon turned her successful brush towards book illustration. "Like fellow illustrators Walter Crane and Randolph Caldecott, Greenaway sought to publish innovative children's works of the highest quality. Her focus on depictions of children, however, set her illustrations apart from those of her contemporaries. Greenaway's work is cherished today for its unaffected, pastoral imagery" (NYPL). Her romantic conception of childhood was based in part on her own experiences. Famous critic John Ruskin was known to be a huge admirer of her art.
Schuster & Engen 226. Thomson 400. Near Fine. (Inventory #: 6296)