1938 Rare First Edition - The Lord of the Rushie River by Cicely Mary Barker
A scarce and especially appealing first edition of Cicely Mary Barker’s charming river fantasy, complete with all twelve full-page colour illustrations and retaining the rare original pictorial dust jacket with its 1/6 net price intact.
Author: Cicely Mary Barker.
Title: The Lord of the Rushie River.
Publisher: London and Glasgow: Blackie & Son Limited, no date (1938). First Edition.
Language: Text in English.
Pages: 48 pages.
Size: Approximately 5.5 x 4.5 inches.
Dust Jacket: Very good original pictorial dust jacket, beautifully illustrated in colour after Cicely Mary Barker. The jacket retains the original 1/6 net price and is unclipped. Light general age toning, small creases, short closed tears and minor wear at the edges and extremities, as shown, but well preserved overall for this fragile early jacket. The rear panel advertises other books illustrated in colour by Barker, including her celebrated Flower Fairies titles. Protected in a removable mylar cover.
Binding: Very good original publisher’s beige patterned cloth, with brown lettering and geometric decoration to the front board and spine and a mounted colour illustration by Barker to the front. Minor rubbing and age toning at the extremities, but the binding remains firm, clean and attractive.
Content: Very good. The pages are generally clean and well preserved with occasional light foxing and age toning, principally to the preliminary leaves. An ink stamp from a previous owner appears on the second blank page, as shown. The book is otherwise clean and complete.
Illustrations: Complete with twelve full-page colour illustrations by Cicely Mary Barker, including the colour frontispiece, together with charming blue illustrated endpapers. The plates retain their soft, delicate colouring and are in very good condition.
Estimate: USD $200–250.
The book: The Lord of the Rushie River is one of Cicely Mary Barker’s most enchanting storybooks outside her famous Flower Fairies series. The story follows young Susan, the daughter of a sailor, whose adventures beside the river bring her into the company of swans, ducks and other waterside creatures. Barker combines a gentle fairy-tale sensibility with a close observation of nature, giving the story the intimate atmosphere of an English riverbank transformed into a small magical kingdom.
First published in 1938, the book is particularly desirable in its original pictorial dust jacket. Barker’s twelve full-page colour plates are central to its appeal, portraying Susan and the river creatures with the tenderness, naturalism and luminous colouring for which the artist is celebrated. Early copies complete with all plates are collectible, while examples retaining the unclipped first-edition jacket are considerably scarcer.
The author and illustrator: Cicely Mary Barker (1895–1973) was an English artist and writer best known for her celebrated Flower Fairies books. Trained at the Croydon Art Society, Barker developed a distinctive style combining careful botanical observation with graceful representations of children, frequently using young family members and local children as models. Her first major success, Flower Fairies of the Spring, appeared in 1923 and established the visual world for which she remains famous.
Barker also illustrated hymns, nursery rhymes, religious books and original stories, including The Lord of the Rushie River. Her work is closely associated with the golden tradition of British children’s book illustration, yet remains immediately recognizable for its gentleness, precise observation of nature and unusually sympathetic portrayal of childhood. This small 1938 volume is a particularly lovely example of Barker working as both storyteller and illustrator.