1940's Rare Book - Cicely Mary Barker - The Lord of the Rushie River. First Edition.
(description)
Author : Story and Pictures by Cicely Mary Barker
Title : The Lord of the Rushie River.
Publisher : London and Glasgow: Blackie & Son Limited. - No date, circa 1940's. First edition.
Size : 6 "X 5 "
Pages : 48 pages
Dustjacket: Good dustjacket (slightly worn, small chips - as shown) in a protective removable mylar cover. The jacket is whole and retains the original publisher's price of 2/6 net.
Binding : Very good full cloth binding (overall slightly worn and scuffed)
Content : Very good content (bright, tight and clean)
Illustrations : Profusely illustrated with 1 frontis and 11 beautiful colour plates (complete).
The book : Rare and very nice early edition with the dustjacket of this exquisite volume by Cicely Mary Barker. The back of the jacket has 14 previous publications by the author (including this one) , the latest (Groundsel and Necklaces) being published in 1946, making this title's publication date sometime in the late 1940s.
The author : Cicely Mary Barker (June 28, 1895 - February 16, 1973) was the illustrator who created the famous Flower Fairies, in the shape of ethereal smiling children with butterfly wings. As a child she was greatly influenced by the works of the illustrator Kate Greenaway, whom she assiduously copied in her formative years. Her principal influence, however, which she duly credited, was the artwork of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. Cicely was also influenced by the huge popular interest in fairies which developed from the Victorian enthusiasm for fairy stories and was epitomised by the immense popularity of J. M. Barrie's Peter Pan in the early part of the 20th century. Published in 1923, Flower Fairies of the Spring was well received by a post-industrial, war-weary public who were charmed by her vision of hope and innocence, which seemed to evoke a less aggressively modern world.