KINGSLEY, Charles (1819-1875). The Water-Babies, A Fairy Tale for a Land-Baby. London: Macmillan and Co., 1909.
KINGSLEY, Charles (1819-1875). The Water-Babies, A Fairy Tale for a Land-Baby. London: Macmillan and Co., 1909.

Details
KINGSLEY, Charles (1819-1875). The Water-Babies, A Fairy Tale for a Land-Baby. London: Macmillan and Co., 1909.

4o (244 x 173 mm). 32 colored plates by Warwick Goble mounted on brown paper. Near-contemporary full green morocco, covers richly decorated with strapwork inlays and gilt with shell and foliate forms, across the center of which is laid over the design of a large pictorial panel reproducing illustrations from the book in padded and repousse colored and tinted leathers with tinted shading and background, spine in 6 compartments, gilt-lettered in 2, 4 with inlaid tan frame and shell and seaweed pattern on a gold background, blue morocco doublures gilt, decorated with large oval pictorial panels in repousse colored leathers and tinted, blue watered silk end leaves, edges gilt; original full morocco box lined with velvet and green watered silk (some light scuffing to box). Provenance: Paul Edward Chevalier (bookplate).

Pictoral panels stand in relief, and re-create four of Goble's illustrations in the text. The upper cover shows the Water Baby on a waterlily leaf illustrated on the frontispiece; the lower cover shows the boy and woman on the sea shore illustrated facing page 32. The front doublure shows the Goose Girl illustrated facing page 62; the lower doublure shows the boy at sea and a magnificent sea bird on a rock illustrated facing page 201.

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