1934 Rare Book - Una and the Red Cross Knight from Spenser's Faery Queene

Author: N.G. Royde-Smith. Illustrated by T.H. Robinson.
Title: Una and the Red Cross Knight and Other Tales from Spenser’s Faery Queene.
Publisher: London, J.M. Dent & Sons Ltd / New York, E.P. Dutton & Co., 1934 (first published 1905).
Language: Text in English.
Size: 8 x 5.5 inches.
Pages: xx-264 pages.
Binding: Attractive and very good original cream cloth binding with illustrated cover and spine panels (hinges fine, overall slightly worn and scuffed - as shown) under a protective removable mylar cover.
Content: Very good content (bright, tight and clean, rare light foxing or staining - as shown, Ex Libris bookplate of Janet Stern on the front pastedown - as shown).
Illustrations: Beautifully illustrated with 8 full-page color plates and numerous intricate black-and-white line drawings by T.H. Robinson. The illustrations capture the chivalric romance and magical atmosphere of Spenser’s Elizabethan epic with rich detail and medieval stylization. All plates appear to be present and in very good condition.

Estimate: (USD 200 –250).

The book: A charming 1934 reprint of this classic Edwardian retelling of stories from The Faerie Queene—one of the defining works of English Renaissance literature. N.G. Royde-Smith presents the tales of Una and the Red Cross Knight, the House of Pride, Archimago, the monstrous Orgoglio, Prince Arthur, and the epic battle with the dragon, all adapted for younger readers while preserving the noble spirit and allegorical depth of Spenser’s verse. 

The author: N.G. Royde-Smith (also known as Naomi Royde-Smith) was a literary editor, novelist, and poet. Her adaptations of classic literature for children were marked by refined prose and a sensitivity to the original material, making her work a staple of early 20th-century juvenile literature.

The illustrator: Thomas Heath Robinson (1869–1954), elder brother of W. Heath Robinson, was a highly skilled book illustrator whose work combined delicacy and medieval revivalist style. His line illustrations in this volume, in particular, reflect the influence of the Pre-Raphaelites and the Golden Age of Illustration, and are often praised for their romantic power and fine detail.