1905 Rare Book - AT THE BACK OF THE NORTH WIND by George MacDonald illustrated by Arthur Hughes.
(description)
Author: George MacDonald. (illustrated by Arthur Hughes).
Title: At the Back of the North Wind With Seventy-Five Illustrations by Arthur Hughes. Frontispiece and Cover-Design by Laurence Housman.
Publisher: London, Glasgow, Dublin, Bombay, Blackie and Son Limited, no date (circa 1905).
Language: Text in English.
Size: 8 " X 5 ".
Pages: vi-378 pages + publisher's catalog.
Binding: Attractive and near fine original decorated full cloth binding (hinges fine, overall slightly scuffed - as shown, corners slightly bumped - as shown, London County Council prize gilt stamp on rear cover - as shown) under a protective removable mylar cover.
Content: Very good content (bright, tight, and clean, rare light foxing - as shown, London County Council prize bookplate dated 1906 on the first endpaper - as shown).
Illustrations: Beautifully illustrated with seventy-five in-text Illustrations by Arthur Hughes.
The book: Rare and attractive early edition of At the Back of the North Wind -- a children's book written by Scottish author George MacDonald. It was serialized in the children's magazine Good Words for the Young beginning in 1868 and was published in book form in 1871. It is a fantasy centered on a boy named Diamond and his adventures with the North Wind. Diamond travels together with the mysterious Lady North Wind through the nights. The book includes the fairy tale Little Daylight, which has been pulled out as an independent work, or separately, added to other collections of his fairy tales.
The author: George MacDonald (10 December 1824 – 18 September 1905) was a Scottish author, poet and Christian minister. He was a pioneering figure in the field of fantasy literature and the mentor of fellow writer Lewis Carroll. His writings have been cited as a major literary influence by many notable authors, including W. H. Auden, J. M. Barrie, Lord Dunsany, Hope Mirrlees, Robert E. Howard, L. Frank Baum, T.H. White, Lloyd Alexander, C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, Walter de la Mare, E. Nesbit, Peter S. Beagle, Neil Gaiman and Madeleine L'Engle. C. S. Lewis wrote that he regarded MacDonald as his "master": "Picking up a copy of Phantastes one day at a train-station bookstall, I began to read. A few hours later", said Lewis, "I knew that I had crossed a great frontier." G. K. Chesterton cited The Princess and the Goblin as a book that had "made a difference to my whole existence".
The illustrator: Arthur Hughes (27 January 1832 – 22 December 1915) was an English painter and illustrator associated with the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood.