1872 Scarce Edition - AT THE BACK OF THE NORTH WIND by George MacDonald.
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Author: George MacDonald.
Title: At the Back of the North Wind. With illustrations by Arthur Hughes.
Publisher: London, Strahan & Company Limited, no date ( circa 1872 - In the same format and binding as the first edition of 1871 (see Shaberman 43)).
Language: Text in English.
Size: 7 " X 5 ".
Pages: 378 pages.
Binding: Very good and attractive original decorated cloth binding - In the same format and binding as the first edition of 1871 (hinges fine, overall slightly worn and scuffed - as shown) under a protective removable mylar cover.
Content: Good content (tight, light foxing and staining throughout - as shown, name of a previous 1883 owner on the first endpaper - as shown, endpapers inner hinges worn but tight - as shown).
Illustrations: Beautifully illustrated with Arthur Hughe's illustrations in the text.
Estimate : (350 USD - 500 USD)
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".