1892 Rare First Edition - CELTIC FAIRY TALES by J. Jacobs Illustrated by J.D. Batten.
Author: Joseph Jacobs (Selected and edited). (John D. Batten, illustrator).
Title: Celtic Fairy Tales
Publisher: London, David Nutt, 1892. First Edition.
Language: Text in English.
Size: 9 " X 6.5 ".
Pages: xiv-267 pages.
Binding: Attractive and good to very good original cloth binding (hinges fine, overall slightly worn and scuffed - as shown) under a protective removable mylar cover.
Content: Very good content (bright, tight and clean, some light foxing or staining - as shown, nice ex libris of a previous owner on the first endpaper - as shown).
Illustrations: Profusely illustrated with a wood-engraved frontispiece, 7 full-page illustrations, and some in-text illustrations by John D. Batten.
Estimate: (USD 300 - USD 350)
The book: Attractive and rare first edition of the Celtic Fairy Tales by Joseph Jacobs. A rare find in any condition!
The author: Joseph Jacobs (29 August 1854 – 30 January 1916) was an Australian folklorist, translator, literary critic, social scientist, historian and writer of English literature who became a notable collector and publisher of English folklore. His work went on to popularize some of the world's best-known versions of English fairy tales including "Jack and the Beanstalk", "Goldilocks and the three bears", "The Three Little Pigs", "Jack the Giant Killer" and "The History of Tom Thumb". He published his English fairy tale collections: English Fairy Tales in 1890 and More English Fairy Tales in 1893[a] but also went on after and in between both books to publish fairy tales collected from continental Europe as well as Jewish, Celtic and Indian fairytales which made him one of the most popular writers of fairytales for the English language.
The illustrator: John Dickson Batten (8 October 1860 – 5 August 1932), born in Plymouth, Devon, was an English painter of figures in oils, tempera and fresco and a book illustrator and printmaker. He was an active member of the Society of Painters in Tempera, with his wife Mary Batten, a gilder.