FIRST EDITIONS OF CHILDREN'S BOOKS AT
ASH RARE BOOKS
43 HURON ROAD
LONDON SW17 8RE
UNITED KINGDOM

London : Publicity Products, [1956]. First edition. The first of three Barbara Jones spin-offs from the popular BBC television series, twenty-six episodes of which were made and broadcast - the first on 9th September 1955. The author, the former school-teacher Maria Bird, also scripted Andy Pandy and the Flowerpot Men. In the Colour Story Book series. The doll-like characters would appeared to be based on drawings of Dutch dolls prepared by Jones for her book "The Unsophisticated Arts".
Post 4to. [24]pp - including integral endpapers. Colour illustrations throughout by Barbara Jones. Original colour-printed pictorial laminated boards, in a jolly Barbara Jones design; a touch bowed; some very minor rubbing to tips; mild spotting of edges, but a very good copy of a scarce item. Bloomfield B21.

£125

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London : Methuen & Co., (1908). First edition.
Crown 8vo. [vi],302,[ii]pp. Frontispiece by Graham Robertson. Bound in a pleasant later half blue calf, banded and gilt; contrasting red and green labels; top edge gilt; just very slightly rubbed; some uneven and occasional spotting and browning to text, but still an attractive copy of this enduring classic.

£1,250

To confirm availability and to purchase this book please note the stock number 28624 and go to the database. Enter the number in the stock/order number box - press the search button - and a shopping basket should appear. Or simply call us or e-mail books@ashrare.com.

London : H. G. Bohn, 1848. Third edition in English of this attractive early selection of tales, including "The Golden Goose", "Rumpel-stilts-ken", "The Goose Girl", "Tom Thumb", "The Frog-Prince", "Hansel and Grethel", etc. The illustrations are engraved by the Byfield family from designs by George Cruikshank and Jacob Ludwig Grimm himself.
Crown 8vo. xii,306pp. Frontispiece. Illustrations. Bound in a contemporary sprinkled calf, now neatly refurbished and rebacked, with new green labels; yellow edges; marbled endpapers; the occasional slight mark, but a very good copy. With the contemporary armorial bookplate of John Sheepshanks (1787-1863), the celebrated art collector, whose magnificent collection was presented to the V. & A. in 1857.

£200

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London : John Murray, [1954]. First edition. In the Harlequin Books series, edited by Noel Carrington.
Long foolscap 4to. (32)pp. Illustrations throughout by the author, in colour on alternate openings. Original stapled self-wrappers in a pictorial design by Hale; a few slight spots, but otherwise a very good copy indeed of a fragile production.

£100

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London : Macmillan & Co., 1902. First edition. Illustrated by Kipling, the only one of his books graced with his own fine illustratons.
Crown 4to. [viii],(252)pp. Illustrations, including twenty-two full page. Bound in a handsome recent full red morocco, banded and gilt, retaining the original pictorial cloth in Kipling's design at the rear of the volume; all edges gilt; marbled endpapers; a few small marks and some very occasional light spotting, but a most attractive copy. Stewart 260.

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London : Macmillan & Co., 1906. First edition. Illustrations by Harold R. Millar.
Demy 8vo. (x),306,[iv]pp. Frontispiece and nineteen full-page illustrations. Bound in a smart recent half red morocco, banded and gilt, retaining the original cloth sides with Kipling's Ganesha device; top edge gilt; a very good, sound and clean copy. Stewart 306.

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London : Robert John Bush, 1877. First edition. More inspired nonsense from Edward Lear - with the first appearance of "The Dong with the Luminous Nose", "The Pobble Who Has No Toes", etc.
Foolscap 4to. [128],4pp. Numerous illustrations by the author. Original pictorial cloth gilt over bevelled boards, in a Lear design, by W. Bone & Son, with their ticket; very lightly rubbed; minor wear to tips; a few small marks to covers; endpapers neatly rejointed; light spotting to prelims, but overall a very good copy. With the contemporary ownership inscription of Augusta Drummond.

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London : Geoffrey Bles, (1950). First edition. Illustrations and colour frontispiece by Pauline Baynes. The first and best-known of the Narnia chronicles.
Post 8vo. (174),[ii]pp. Coloured frontispiece. Illustrations. Bound in an elegant recent full navy morocco, banded and gilt; marbled endpapers; a few very minor marks and spots, but a very good copy.

£1,500

To confirm availability and to purchase this print please note the stock number 35261 and go to the database. Enter the number in the stock/order number box - press the search button - and a shopping basket should appear. Or simply call us or e-mail books@ashrare.com.

A complete first edition set of all seven novels, all in original cloth or boards, six having been together since first purchased in the 1950s, and five retaining their original dust-jackets (the two others - the first and fourth in the set - having had jackets supplied by a former owner from contemporary copies of later impressions). Post 8vo. All with illustrations (some coloured) and dust-jackets by Pauline Baynes, comprising :

THE LAST BATTLE : A STORY FOR CHILDREN.
London : John Lane, The Bodley Head, 1956. First edition. Some spotting of edges of endpapers, but otherwise a very good copy in the original jacket – price-clipped, lightly worn at head, faintly sunned, and with some spotting of lower panel. Dated (1956) gift inscription to Carol on front endpaper.

£5,000

London : J.M.Dent & Sons, (1959). First edition. Illustrated by Peggy Fortnum.
Crown 8vo. 188pp. Illustrations. Original red boards, lettered on spine in gilt; a touch bruised, a few faint marks, but a very good and sound copy in the original Peggy Fortnum dust-jacket - a design in red-pink, pale blue and black on white - very lightly used, a little tanned at spine, and very slightly fingered, but overall a most acceptable copy of a difficult title.

£100

To confirm availability and to purchase this book please note the stock number 26463 and go to the database. Enter the number in the stock/order number box - press the search button - and a shopping basket should appear. Or simply call us or e-mail books@ashrare.com.

London : Longman, Orme, Brown, Green & Longmans / Longman, Brown, Green & Longmans, 1841-1842. First edition. Marryat's first and best-known book for children - island castaways in the Robinson Crusoe, Swiss Family Robinson tradition.
Three volumes. Foolscap 8vo. viii,(288) + (16)pp advertisements dated December 1841; [iv],(270),[ii], + 16,16pp advertisements dated April 1842; [iv],(226),[ii] + 32pp advertisements dated until October 1842. Illustrations and map by the author. Bound in a nineteenth-century half blue calf, banded and prettily gilt; contrasting red and maroon labels; marbled sides and endpapers; lemon edges; a little faded, lightly rubbed and slightly scuffed; a few slight marks and small flaws, but a very good and still attractive set. Sadleir 1583 - but with variation in inserted publishers' catalogues.

£250

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London : William Heinemann, (1927). First edition.
Crown 8vo. (328)pp. Bound in a handsome recent half blue morocco, banded and gilt; original cloth spine and front panel preserved at rear; a few slight marks and faint creases; one leaf with a tiny nick at margin, but overall a fine and clean copy. Bleiler p.135.

£250

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London : William Heinemann, (1935). First edition.
Crown 8vo. [viii],(418),[iv]pp. Pictorial head- and tailpieces. Bound in a handsome recent half blue morocco; original cloth spine and upper panel preserved at rear; tope edge lightly discoloured; light spotting of edges, but otherwise a most attractive copy.

£250

To confirm availability and to purchase this print please note the stock number 25832 and go to the database. Enter the number in the stock/order number box - press the search button - and a shopping basket should appear. Or simply call us or e-mail books@ashrare.com.

London : Methuen & Co., (1926). First edition. "Here is Edward Bear, coming downstairs now, bump, bump, bump, on the back of his head, behind Christopher Robin ...".
Crown 8vo. (xiv),(160)pp. Illustrations by Ernest H. Shepard. Bound in an elegant recent full green morocco, retaining the original front endpaper map; top edge gilt; original cloth gilt upper cover preserved at rear; very mild tanning to map; a few very minor marks and spots, but overall a very good copy. Housed in a slip-case.

£950

To confirm availability and to purchase this print please note the stock number 35046 and go to the database. Enter the number in the stock/order number box - press the search button - and a shopping basket should appear. Or simply call us or e-mail books@ashrare.com.

London : Methuen & Co., (1928). First edition. Illustrations by Ernest H. Shepard.
Crown 8vo. (xii),(180)pp. Illustrations. Bound in an elegant recent half red morocco, banded and gilt; preserving the original Shepard pictorial endpapers; top edge gilt; slight tanning to half-title; a few slight marks and spots, but a handsome copy.

SOLD

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London : Methuen & Co., (1929). First edition. The first appearance of Milne's Toad-orientated dramatisation of "The Wind in the Willows" - and a classic in its own right.
Crown 8vo. (xvi),(168),8pp. Bound in a smart recent half blue morroco, retaining the original cloth gilt of the upper and lower cover; original backstrip retained at rear; top edge gilt; a few minor spots, but otherwise a handsome copy in an attractive binding.

£250

To confirm availability and to purchase this print please note the stock number 28667 and go to the database. Enter the number in the stock/order number box - press the search button - and a shopping basket should appear. Or simply call us or e-mail books@ashrare.com.

London : J. M. Dent & Sons, (1945). First British edition. Her first children's book - first published in the USA in 1943 as "The Magic Bed-Knob, or, How to Become a Witch in Ten Easy Lessons" - and the basis of the later "Bed Knobs and Broomsticks" film.
Crown 8vo. 112pp. Illustrations, some full-page, some in colour, by Joan Kiddell-Monroe (1908-1972). Original pictorial cloth - a flying bedstead design by Kiddell-Monroe; lightly rubbed; shadow of an old inscription on lower cover; a few faint edge-spots; final vignette outlined in ink, but a clean and sound copy of a scarce book. The endpapers are covered with childish calculations relating to school-marks and sketches - the calculations showing Nigel Brown gaining an A+, Mary Wardale an A, Lesley Dowley a B-, and Karen Land a "below average" C.

£100

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London : Frederick Warne & Co., 1906. First edition.
Pott 4to. (86)pp. Pictorial label, frontispiece and twenty-six illustrations in colour; title vignette in black and white, all by Beatrix Potter. Rebound in a smart recent half red morocco, banded and gilt, retaining the original boards (the red variant), lettered in white, with oval pictorial onlay on upper cover; pictorial front endpaper retained; a few tiny marks, but overall in very good and clean state. Linder p.426. Quinby 10.

£500

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London : Frederick Warne & Co., 1909. First edition : with the sign-board in the illustration to p.14, which was later dropped.
Pott 4to. (86)pp. Pictorial label, frontispiece and twenty-six illustrations in colour; title vignette in black and white, all by Beatrix Potter. Original green boards, with pictorial onlay; spine lightly tanned; small splits to lower joint; a few minor marks and spots, but still a nice copy of a fragile production. Linder p.428. Quinby 16.

£400

To confirm availability and to purchase this print please note the stock number 34901 and go to the database. Enter the number in the stock/order number box - press the search button - and a shopping basket should appear. Or simply call us or e-mail books@ashrare.com.

London : Frederick Warne & Co., 1910. First edition. Cover design, endpapers and colour illustrations by the author.
Pott 4to. (86)pp. Pictorial label, frontispiece and twenty-six illustrations in colour; title vignette in black and white, all by Beatrix Potter. Rebound in a smart recent half blue morocco, banded and gilt, retaining the original boards, lettered in white, with hexagonal pictorial onlay on upper cover; pictorial front endpaper retained; a few tiny marks, but overall in very good and clean state. Linder p.429. Quinby 18.

£500

To confirm availability and to purchase this print please note the stock number 35043 and go to the database. Enter the number in the stock/order number box - press the search button - and a shopping basket should appear. Or simply call us or e-mail books@ashrare.com.

London : George G. Harrap, (1933). First edition. Rackham in sparkling form, introducing and illustrating a favourite collection of twenty-three of the great fairy stories.
Royal 8vo. (288)pp. Eight colour plates. Numerous illustrations in black and white. Bound in an elegant recent full crimson morocco, banded and richly gilt; the original pictorial endpapers and the front panel and spine of the original cloth are preserved at front and rear; a very good copy indeed.

SOLD

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London : Constable & Co., [1919]. First edition : the large-paper limited edition of 575 numbered copies, signed by Arthur Rackham. "Clerk Colvill", "Chevy Chase", "Hynd Horn", "The Bailiff's Daughter of Islington", "The Fair Flower of Northumberland" and many other of the traditional ballads, with sixteen tipped-in tissue-guarded colour plates by Rackham and numerous black-and-white illustrations in the text.
Demy 4to. [ii],(10),170,[ii]pp. Colour plates. Text illustrations. Bound in a splendid recent full green morocco, banded and richly gilt; top edge gilt; marbled endpapers; occasional very slight spotting; a few faint creases, but overall a very good, clean, sound and handsome copy.

£850

To confirm availability and to purchase this book please note the stock number 30019 and go to the database. Enter the number in the stock/order number box - press the search button - and a shopping basket should appear. Or simply call us or e-mail books@ashrare.com.

London : Constable & Co., [1919]. First edition : the later issue, with the addition of the pictorial Rackham endpapers in place of the original plain ones. "Clerk Colvill", "Chevy Chase", "Hynd Horn", "The Bailiff's Daughter of Islington", "The Fair Flower of Northumberland" and many other of the traditional ballads, with sixteen tipped-in tissue-guarded colour plates by Rackham and numerous black-and-white illustrations in the text.
Crown 4to. (10),170,[ii]pp. Colour plates. Text illustrations. Bound in a smart recent half blue morocco, banded and gilt, and retaining the original cloth sides decorated with Rackham designs in gilt and blind; original Rackham front endpaper preserved; occasional light spotting; a few minor creases, but a very good copy - handsomely bound.

£350

To confirm availability and to purchase this book please note the stock number 30020 and go to the database. Enter the number in the stock/order number box - press the search button - and a shopping basket should appear. Or simply call us or e-mail books@ashrare.com.

London : Amalgamated Press, 1924. The fourth annual appearance of this feast of Bunter et al. - containing two Greyfriars stories by Richards, a public school story from P.G.Wodehouse (Scott's Sister), and much more in the same vein - Rookwood, Tom Merry, tales of derring-do, poems, features, cartoons, magic tricks, etc.
Foolscap 4to. 360pp. Eight plates, four in colour. Numerous illustrations. Original cloth-backed pictorial boards, with an illustration by E.E.Briscoe; lightly rubbed, with the lower cover a little worn, scuffed and scraped; a few very minor marks, but a good copy still. From the library of the distinguished illustrator and architectural historian Geoffrey Fletcher (1923-2004), with his 1990 ownership label.

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London : Collins, 1938. First edition. Illustrated by the author.
Post 8vo. (340)pp. Illustrations. Bound in a handsome recent half black morocco, banded and gilt; original cloth backstrip preserved at rear; very faint and minor spotting of outer leaves, but a fine, bright and elegantly bound copy.

£295

To confirm availability and to purchase this book please note the stock number 26523 and go to the database. Enter the number in the stock/order number box - press the search button - and a shopping basket should appear. Or simply call us or e-mail books@ashrare.com.