1925 Rare Book - Peter Pan and Wendy Illustrated by Mabel Lucie Attwell

An attractive circa-1925 illustrated edition of J. M. Barrie’s enduring classic, complete with all twelve colour plates by Mabel Lucie Attwell, in its original gilt-decorated red cloth.

Author: J. M. Barrie. Illustrated by Mabel Lucie Attwell.
Title: Peter Pan and Wendy.
Publisher: London: Hodder and Stoughton, no date [circa 1925]. Early edition with the illustrations of Mabel Lucie Attwell.
Edition: Early illustrated edition, following the first Attwell edition of 1921.
Language: Text in English.
Pages: 320 pages.
Size: 9.5 x 6.5 inches.
Binding: Very good original red cloth binding with gilt titles to the spine and a charming gilt vignette of Peter Pan to the upper board. Upper edge gilt. Binding firm and attractive, with light age-related rubbing and toning, chiefly to the spine and extremities, as shown. Protected in a removable mylar cover. 
Content: Very good content, firm and complete, with scattered foxing and age spotting, more noticeable to some preliminary and final leaves and occasionally throughout, as shown. 
Provenance: With the distinctive typographic bookplate of John Malcolm Edwards to the front pastedown. The front endpapers bear two remarkably accomplished early ink copies of Mabel Lucie Attwell’s illustrations appearing within the volume, including Peter Pan and the fairy vignette. Executed with exceptional fidelity to Attwell’s original line work, their authorship is unidentified.
Illustrations: Complete with all 12 full-page colour illustrations by Mabel Lucie Attwell, including the frontispiece Peter Kept Watch, together with numerous black-and-white illustrations and decorative drawings throughout the text.

Estimate: USD 275–325.

The book: Peter Pan and Wendy is J. M. Barrie’s beloved novel of the boy who refuses to grow up, following Peter, Wendy Darling, Tinker Bell and the Lost Boys through their adventures in Neverland. First published in novel form as Peter and Wendy in 1911, the story quickly became one of the defining works of twentieth-century children’s literature. This attractive early Hodder and Stoughton edition belongs to the sought-after series illustrated by Mabel Lucie Attwell, whose interpretation of the story first appeared in 1921.

Attwell’s delicate watercolours give Barrie’s fantasy a gentler, dreamlike character. This 320-page issue, generally dated to the mid-1920s, retains the full complement of twelve colour plates together with the many line drawings that make these early editions particularly appealing to collectors of illustrated children’s books.

The author: Sir James Matthew Barrie (1860–1937) was a Scottish novelist and playwright whose creation of Peter Pan secured his place among the most influential writers of children’s fantasy. Peter first appeared in Barrie’s writings at the beginning of the twentieth century before becoming the central figure of the immensely successful stage play Peter Pan; or, the Boy Who Wouldn’t Grow Up and subsequently the novel Peter and Wendy.

The illustrator: Mabel Lucie Attwell (1879–1964) was one of Britain’s most popular illustrators of the early twentieth century. Celebrated for her gently humorous and sentimental depictions of children, fairies and storybook characters, she illustrated numerous classics as well as postcards, books and nursery wares. Her Peter Pan illustrations, first published by Hodder and Stoughton in 1921, remain among her most desirable book illustrations.