1946 Rare 1stED - The Little White Horse by E. Goudge illustrated by C.W. Hodges
The true 1946 First Edition of Elizabeth Goudge’s beloved Carnegie Medal-winning fantasy, complete with its original illustrated dust jacket and the evocative illustrations of C. Walter Hodges.
Author: Elizabeth Goudge.
Title: The Little White Horse.
Publisher: London: University of London Press Ltd., 1946.
Edition: First Edition, First Printing.
Language: English.
Pages: vi, 286 pages.
Size: 7.5 x 5 inches.
Binding: Very good original pale blue cloth binding, with gilt unicorn vignette to the front board and gilt lettering to the spine. Complete with the original illustrated dust jacket, retaining the 6/- price, in very good condition with age toning, light edge wear and a few small chips and closed tears as shown. Protected in a removable mylar cover.
Content: Very good content, clean and well preserved, with only occasional light spotting and age toning. Illustrated map endpapers depicting Moonacre, Silverydew and the surrounding countryside. No significant defects noted.
Illustrations: Complete with four full-page colour illustrations and twelve full-page black-and-white illustrations by C. Walter Hodges, together with illustrated map endpapers.
Estimate: USD 500–700.
The book:
First published in 1946, The Little White Horse follows the orphaned Maria Merryweather as she arrives at the ancient manor of Moonacre with her governess, Miss Heliotrope, and her dog Wiggins. There she discovers a secluded world of old family mysteries, magical creatures, hidden wrongs and the elusive little white horse glimpsed beneath the moon. Goudge blends fairy tale, romance, adventure and an idealized English landscape into a story whose atmosphere has made it one of the enduring classics of twentieth-century children’s fantasy.
The novel won the Carnegie Medal for 1946 and has remained among Goudge’s best-loved works. This first edition is particularly desirable with its original pictorial dust jacket still present. C. Walter Hodges’s illustrations, ranging from intimate domestic scenes to dramatic black-and-white drawings, and his charming map of Moonacre give the book much of its distinctive visual identity.
The author:
Elizabeth Goudge (1900–1984) was an English novelist and children’s writer celebrated for stories in which landscape, history, spirituality and the imaginative world are closely intertwined. Her novels include Green Dolphin Country, Pilgrim’s Inn and The Dean’s Watch, but The Little White Horse became perhaps her most enduring work for younger readers.
Goudge had an unusual gift for creating places that seem simultaneously real and enchanted. Moonacre Manor, its woods, village, animals and legends form a complete imaginative world, and the novel’s mixture of mystery and fairy tale has attracted generations of readers well beyond its original juvenile audience.
The illustrator:
C. Walter Hodges (1909–2004) was a distinguished English illustrator, author and theatre designer, particularly admired for his ability to give historical and imaginary settings a convincing sense of place. His work appeared in numerous children’s books, and his illustrations are characterized by lively line, strong narrative detail and a remarkable feeling for architecture, costume and period atmosphere.
For The Little White Horse, Hodges created the four full-page colour plates, twelve full-page black-and-white illustrations, the delightful map endpapers of Moonacre and Silverydew, and the memorable pictorial dust jacket. His imagery is inseparable from the atmosphere of the original 1946 edition, giving Goudge’s enchanted landscape a visual identity that later editions rarely reproduce so completely.