1887 Rare First Edition - Down the Snow Stairs by Alice Corkran illustrated by Gordon Browne.

Author: Alice Corkran. Gordon Browne, illustrator.
Title: DOWN THE SNOW STAIRS: or, From Good-Night to Good-Morning. With sixty illustrations by Gordon Browne.
Publisher: London, Glasgow, Edinburg and Dublin, Blackie & Son, 1887. First Edition.
Language: Text in English.
Size: 7.5 " X 5.5 ".
Pages: xi-257 pages + publisher's catalog.
Binding: Attractive and very good original full-cloth binding (hinges fine, overall slightly wornd 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, gift note of a previous owner on the first blank page - as shown).
Illustrations: Complete with the wonderful sixty illustrations by Gordon Browne.

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

The book: "Rare and Attractive First Edition of Alice Corkan's Down the Snow Stair.
--It is Christmas Eve but eight-year-old Kitty cannot sleep. Through her own thoughtless disobedience, her beloved little brother, Johnny, lies critically ill in bed. That night, Kitty travels in a dream to Naughty Children's Land. She meets many strange people, including Daddy Coax who is so tender-hearted that he cannot stand to see naughty children punished, and gives them candy and toys when they are bad, in the hopes he can ""coax"" them into being good. She also meets the beautiful lady, Love, who offers naughty children the kiss of forgiveness and the opportunity to return to the Path of Obedience. To reach her home again, Kitty must find a way to resist the many temptations she faces and win the Christmas blessing!
""We have to place this book alongside of Carrol's Alice in Wonderland...A better and brighter book we have not read for a long time."" – Aberdeen Press and Journal[1886]."

The illustrator: Gordon Frederick Browne RI RBA (15 April 1858 – 27 May 1932) was an English artist and a prolific illustrator of children's books in the late 19th century and early 20th century. He was a meticulous craftsman and made a great deal of effort to ensure his illustrations were accurate. He illustrated six or seven books a year in addition to a huge volume of magazine illustrations.

The author: Alice Abigail Corkran was an Irish author of children's fiction and an editor of children's magazines. Born in France to Irish parents, she grew up in the stimulating environment of her mother's literary salon. She was a playmate of Robert Browning's aging father, and still had his workbooks in her possession when she died. As well as writing a number of well-received novels, she edited first the Bairn's Annual and then The Girl's Realm, being the founder of that magazine's Guild of Service and Good Fellowship, which maintained a cot at the Ormond Street Hospital for Sick Children, among other charitable works.