1950 Rare First Edition - Fairies of the Flowers and Trees by Cicely Mary Barker.

Author: Poems and Pictures by Cicely Mary Barker.
Title: FAIRIES OF THE FLOWERS AND TREES.
Publisher: London and Glasgow: Blackie & Son Limited. - First Edition, circa 1950.   
Size: 7.5" X 6".
Pages: 92 pages + 72 plates.
Binding: Attractive and very good, near fine original full-cloth binding (hinges fine, overall slightly scuffed - as shown) under a protective removable mylar cover. 
Content: Very good, near fine content (bright, tight, and clean - as shown).
Illustrations: Complete with the 72 wonderful full-page color plates by Cicely Mary Barker.

Estimate: (USD 350 - USD 500)

The book: Rare and Attractive First edition of this exquisite omnibus volume by Cicely Mary Barker. The scarcest of the combined Flower Fairies volumes. `Flower Fairies of the Garden', `Flower Fairies of the Wayside', and `Flower Fairies of the Trees'. One of the great fairy texts, personifying every variety of flowers, grass, plant with a fairy child. 

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 epitomized 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.