1930 Rare Book - AT THE BACK OF THE NORTH WIND by George MacDonald.
(description)
Author : George MacDonald (illustrated by Maria L. Kirk).
Title : At the Back of the North Wind.Illustrated.
Publisher : London and Glasgow, Blackie & Son Limited, no date (circa 1930).
Language : Text in English.
Size : 7.5 " X 5.5 ".
Pages : 391 pages.
Binding : Attractive and very good, near fine, original blind and gilt decorated cloth binding (hinges fine) under a protective removable mylar cover.
Content : Very good content (bright, tight and clean, rare foxing or staining).
Illustrations : Beautifully illustrated with 1 color frontispiece page and in text illustrations.
The book : Rare and attractive 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".