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1890 Rare Book - At the Back of the North Wind: Eleanor Farjeon’s Childhood Copy
1890 Rare Book - At the Back of the North Wind: Eleanor Farjeon’s Childhood Copy
1890 Rare Book - At the Back of the North Wind: Eleanor Farjeon’s Childhood Copy
1890 Rare Book - At the Back of the North Wind: Eleanor Farjeon’s Childhood Copy
1890 Rare Book - At the Back of the North Wind: Eleanor Farjeon’s Childhood Copy
1890 Rare Book - At the Back of the North Wind: Eleanor Farjeon’s Childhood Copy
1890 Rare Book - At the Back of the North Wind: Eleanor Farjeon’s Childhood Copy
1890 Rare Book - At the Back of the North Wind: Eleanor Farjeon’s Childhood Copy
1890 Rare Book - At the Back of the North Wind: Eleanor Farjeon’s Childhood Copy
1890 Rare Book - At the Back of the North Wind: Eleanor Farjeon’s Childhood Copy
1890 Rare Book - At the Back of the North Wind: Eleanor Farjeon’s Childhood Copy
1890 Rare Book - At the Back of the North Wind: Eleanor Farjeon’s Childhood Copy
1890 Rare Book - At the Back of the North Wind: Eleanor Farjeon’s Childhood Copy
1890 Rare Book - At the Back of the North Wind: Eleanor Farjeon’s Childhood Copy
1890 Rare Book - At the Back of the North Wind: Eleanor Farjeon’s Childhood Copy
1890 Rare Book - At the Back of the North Wind: Eleanor Farjeon’s Childhood Copy
1890 Rare Book - At the Back of the North Wind: Eleanor Farjeon’s Childhood Copy
1890 Rare Book - At the Back of the North Wind: Eleanor Farjeon’s Childhood Copy
1890 Rare Book - At the Back of the North Wind: Eleanor Farjeon’s Childhood Copy
1890 Rare Book - At the Back of the North Wind: Eleanor Farjeon’s Childhood Copy
1890 Rare Book - At the Back of the North Wind: Eleanor Farjeon’s Childhood Copy
1890 Rare Book - At the Back of the North Wind: Eleanor Farjeon’s Childhood Copy
1890 Rare Book - At the Back of the North Wind: Eleanor Farjeon’s Childhood Copy
1890 Rare Book - At the Back of the North Wind: Eleanor Farjeon’s Childhood Copy
1890 Rare Book - At the Back of the North Wind: Eleanor Farjeon’s Childhood Copy
1890 Rare Book - At the Back of the North Wind: Eleanor Farjeon’s Childhood Copy
1890 Rare Book - At the Back of the North Wind: Eleanor Farjeon’s Childhood Copy
1890 Rare Book - At the Back of the North Wind: Eleanor Farjeon’s Childhood Copy
1890 Rare Book - At the Back of the North Wind: Eleanor Farjeon’s Childhood Copy
1890 Rare Book - At the Back of the North Wind: Eleanor Farjeon’s Childhood Copy
1890 Rare Book - At the Back of the North Wind: Eleanor Farjeon’s Childhood Copy

1890 Rare Book - At the Back of the North Wind: Eleanor Farjeon’s Childhood Copy

$500 USD - $500 USD
$500 USD
$500 USD - $500 USD
$500 USD

An exceptional literary association copy: Eleanor Farjeon’s childhood copy of George MacDonald’s fairy classic, inscribed to her by her mother on her ninth birthday.

Author: George MacDonald.
Title: At the Back of the North Wind.
Publisher: London, Blackie & Son, 49 & 50 Old Bailey, E.C.; Glasgow, Edinburgh, and Dublin, n.d. New Edition, circa 1890. 
Language: Text in English.
Size: 7.5" x 5.5".
Pages: vi, 378 pages + publisher’s catalogue.
Binding: Good to very good original decorated green cloth binding with gilt and colour pictorial decoration to the front board and spine. Light wear and rubbing, with some toning to the spine, as shown. Protected in a removable mylar cover. 
Content: Good to very good content with light foxing, occasional staining, and age toning, as shown. A very special association copy, with a manuscript gift inscription from Margaret Jane Farjeon, Eleanor Farjeon’s mother, to her daughter on her ninth birthday: “To my dear little daughter with fond love from her Mama. Margaret J. Farjeon. February 13th 1890.”
Illustrations: Complete with seventy-five illustrations by Arthur Hughes, including numerous full-page and in-text black-and-white illustrations.

The book: At the Back of the North Wind is one of George MacDonald’s most beloved works of children’s fantasy, following the young Diamond through dreamlike encounters with the mysterious North Wind. First serialized in the 1860s and later published in book form, the story became a cornerstone of Victorian fantasy literature, admired for its spiritual tenderness, symbolic richness, and imaginative beauty.

The association: This is an exceptional copy with remarkable literary provenance: Eleanor Farjeon’s own childhood copy, given to her by her mother, Margaret Jane Farjeon, on February 13th, 1890, Eleanor’s ninth birthday. Farjeon would later become one of the great English writers for children, author of The Little Bookroom and winner of the Carnegie Medal and the Hans Christian Andersen Award. A childhood copy of MacDonald’s classic, gifted within the Farjeon family, is a deeply meaningful association linking two major figures in the tradition of imaginative children’s literature.

The author: George MacDonald (1824-1905) was a Scottish author, poet, minister, and pioneering writer of fantasy literature. His works, including The Princess and the Goblin, Phantastes, and At the Back of the North Wind, profoundly influenced later writers such as C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, and Madeleine L’Engle.

The illustrator: Arthur Hughes (1832-1915) was an English painter and illustrator associated with the Pre-Raphaelite circle. His delicate, atmospheric illustrations for MacDonald’s works are among the most admired images in Victorian children’s literature, perfectly suited to the dreamlike and spiritual tone of the story.