1993 Scarce First Edition - How to See Fairies by Charles van Sandwyk
Scarce first edition, first printing of Charles van Sandwyk’s enchanting How to See Fairies, one of the most desirable of his early Fairy Press productions, beautifully illustrated throughout in colour and black and white.
Author: Charles van Sandwyk.
Title: How to See Fairies.
Publisher: North Vancouver, The Fairy Press, no date (1993).
Edition: First Edition, First Printing. Limited edition of 1,000 copies. This first issue is identifiable by the burgundy card wrap and the absence of additional wording beneath the Fairy Press device.
Language: English.
Pages: Unpaginated.
Size: 6.5 x 5 inches.
Binding: Near fine original pictorial card covers, hand-stitched as issued. The distinctive marbled wrappers feature a mounted pictorial title label on the front cover and the Fairy Press device on the rear. Original decorative turn-ins and burgundy inner card wrap present. Only minimal signs of handling, as shown. Protected in a removable mylar cover.
Content: Near fine. Bright, tight and remarkably clean throughout, with no ownership inscriptions or markings noted. An exceptionally attractive and well-preserved example of this delicate early Fairy Press production.
Illustrations: Profusely illustrated by Charles van Sandwyk with exquisite colour and black-and-white drawings, including full-page and double-page compositions, fairy folk, woodland creatures, elves, mushrooms and fantastical beings rendered in his immediately recognizable style.
Estimate: USD 450–600.
The book: How to See Fairies is one of Charles van Sandwyk’s most charming and elusive early books. Through poetry, whimsical observations and richly imagined illustrations, the reader is invited into a hidden world populated by fairies, elves, talking animals, mushroom folk and mysterious woodland creatures. The book has the intimate character of a private field guide to the invisible, combining gentle humour with the sense that the magical world might be glimpsed by anyone patient enough to look.
Published by Van Sandwyk’s own Fairy Press in North Vancouver in a limited edition of only 1,000 copies, the book belongs to the highly collectible group of small, artisanal publications that preceded his wider international recognition. Its hand-stitched construction, distinctive wrappers and exceptionally accomplished illustrations make How to See Fairies a cornerstone title for collectors of Van Sandwyk and modern illustrated fairy books. Scarce in such attractive condition.
The author and illustrator: Charles van Sandwyk is a Canadian artist, author and illustrator celebrated for his imaginative depictions of fairies, animals and enchanted worlds. Born in Johannesburg in 1966 and raised in British Columbia, he developed a distinctive visual language influenced by the great illustrators of the Golden Age, particularly Arthur Rackham and Edmund Dulac, while retaining a highly personal combination of humour, delicacy and fantasy.
His earliest Fairy Press publications were produced in small editions and often distributed on a comparatively modest scale, making surviving examples increasingly sought after. Van Sandwyk later gained a broad international following through his books and collaborations with the Folio Society, but collectors continue to place particular value on these intimate early productions, among which How to See Fairies remains one of the most desirable.