1890 Scarce First Edition - Fairy in the Spider’s Web by A.L.O.E., Illustrated

Author: A.L.O.E. (Charlotte Maria Tucker).
Title: Fairy in the Spider’s Web.
Publisher: London & Edinburgh: Gall & Inglis, no date (1890). First Edition.
Language: Text in English.
Size: 7" x 5".
Pages: 222 pages + publisher’s list.
Binding: Very good original decorative pale blue cloth binding, richly gilt-stamped to spine and upper cover with black floral borders and designs. Lower board with blind-stamped floral motif (hinges fine, overall slightly worn, sunned and scuffed - as shown) under a protective removable mylar cover. All edges gilt.
Content: Very good content (bright, tight and clean, rare light foxing or staining - as shown, neat early gift inscription dated July 3rd, 1890 on the front free endpaper - as shown). 
Illustrations: Illustrated with a finely engraved frontispiece and five additional full-page plates in text, capturing both character and setting with a strong Victorian tone.

Estimate: (Scarce with no or few other copies available for sale worldwide).

The book:  A lovely and scarce first edition of this Victorian children’s and missionary tale by A.L.O.E. (A Lady of England), the pseudonym of Charlotte Maria Tucker. This title blends allegory and domestic fiction with an exotic colonial backdrop, reflecting the author’s own missionary experiences in India. The narrative follows the trials and redemption of the heroine “Fairy,” caught in the figurative “spider’s web” of worldly snares and temptations, but ultimately rescued through faith and perseverance. A striking example of Gall & Inglis’s decorative cloth gift books, this copy epitomizes the late 19th-century fusion of moral didacticism and imaginative fiction.

The author: Charlotte Maria Tucker (1821–1893), writing under the pen name A.L.O.E. (“A Lady of England”), was one of the most popular Victorian writers of religious and didactic literature for children. Author of over 150 works, she combined engaging storytelling with a strong evangelical message. In 1875, she left England for India, dedicating her last 18 years to missionary work among women and children, which deeply influenced her later works—including Fairy in the Spider’s Web.