1950 Rare Book - A Flower Fairy Alphabet by Cicely Mary Barker

Author: Poems and Pictures by Cicely Mary Barker.
Title: A Flower Fairy Alphabet.
Publisher: London and Glasgow: Blackie and Son Limited., no date, circa 1950.
Size: 5.5" X 4.5".
Language: Text in English.
Pages: Unpaginated + 24 plates.
Binding: Attractive and very good original full-cloth binding (hinges fine, overall slightly scuffed - as shown) in a very good original dustjacket (small chips and tears, price clipped) under a protective removable mylar cover.
Content: Very good content (bright, tight, and clean, gift note of a previous 1951 owner on the first endpaper - as shown). 
Illustrations: Profusely illustrated with 24 beautiful color plates.

The book: Rare and very nice early edition with the dust jacket of this exquisite volume by Cicely Mary Barker. One of the great fairy texts, personifying every alphabet letter with a flower fairy. The back of the jacket has 12 previous publications, the latest being A Little Picture Hymn Book.

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.