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Type: hardcover
Publisher: Wells Gardner, Darton & Co.
Round Fairyland with Alice and the White Rabbit
by
Brenda Girvin
Illustrated by
Dorothy Furniss
First UK edition
Published by
Wells Gardner, Darton & Co. Ltd, London
1916
***
First edition of Round Fairyland with Alice and the White Rabbit by Brenda Girvin, illustrated by Dorothy Furniss (incorrectly spelled Furness to title page) and published by Wells Gardner, Darton & Co. Ltd, London in 1916. Dedicated to ‘The Jabberwockers’.
Hardback, green cloth boards with four-colour pictorial design to front and spine, publisher’s device in blind to rear, b/w frontispiece plate with tissue guard, 15 further b/w plates (all on coated paper), 312 pages. Approximate size 8.2 x 5.7 inches (21 x 14.7 cm).
This is one of the most charming of the many Alice in Wonderland spin-offs, sequels and pastiches that have been published since Lewis Carroll’s classic first appeared in 1865.
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The author here uses the characters of Alice and the White Rabbit to introduce, in story form, the fairy lore of England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales and the Isle of Man. The book begins and ends with a visit to a Professor of Folklore, and in between Alice travels through Fairyland, where she encounters a wonderful assortment of enchanted folk, including fairies, mermaids, elves, kelpies, brownies, leprechauns, goblins, witches, dragons and the like. Dorothy Furniss – daughter of Harry Furniss, who illustrated Lewis Carroll’s two Sylvie and Bruno books – provides sixteen delightful line drawings to complement the text, her Alice very much in John Tenniel style. The intricate cover design with its Art Nouveau touches is particularly attractive.
Contents include: The Fairies of England (15 chapters, including references to Pixies of Dartmoor, Mermaids, Bucca-Boo, Spriggans, Small People, Court of Queen Mab, Bogle, Hobthrust on the Hearth, Gentle Greenies, Lancashire Boggart, Duergar, Brown Man of the Moors, Dunnie, etc.); The Wee Fowk of Scotland (17 chapters, including Fairy Rade, Wag-at-the-Wa’, Queen of Elf-Land, Faithful Kilmoulis, Redcaps, Sleagh Maith, Dracae’s Golden Cup, Water-Kelpie, Shellycoat, Hoodie, Blue Man, Ourisk Equipage, Unco Wee Bodies of Skye, Barque of Elfin Dog, etc.); The Good People of Ireland (13 chapters, including Shamus: Friend of the Fairies, Sidhe, Finvarra and Onagh, Cave Fairies, Innisark Fairies, Water-Horses in Loch Fee, Leprechaun, Paudeen Rure’s Fairy Army, Ellyll, Gankenagh, ‘Mister Merrow’: Green Man of the Sea, Cluricane, Pooka); The Phynnoderee of Manxland (5 chapters, including Little Fellas, Glashtin, Buggane, Whirligig Magician, etc.); Y Tylwyth Teg of Wales (14 chapters, including Boobach, Gwyllion, Welsh Witch, Dragon, Anglesey Fairies, Machynlleth Fairies, Little Men, Pwca, Coblynau, Ellyllon, Owen’s Gwragedd Annwn, Fairy Bank of Craig-y-Dinas, Enchanted Green Isles of the Ocean, etc). Plus Preface and Appendix with Notes.
Book complete and intact, with no owner’s inscriptions. Foxing throughout (plates virtually unaffected), usual yellowing to text paper, a little bumping to corners and edges, two facing pages with small area of browning (probably from paper previously laid in), some staining and finger-marking, two gutters with dark staining/smudging, first few pages with a little edge wear, one closed tear alongside gutter, one or two nicks, minor separation between a few gatherings, title spread with slight surface damage to foot (where plate and title page previously adhering), offsetting to endpapers. Page 60 with surface abrasion, affecting three lines of text; abraded portion written out on small slip by previous owner (slip laid in). Plates with some staining to margins; one plate with nick, one with small, pale cup-stain in image area, two previously loose, with wear to edges (one of these more heavily worn, with creasing and short tears), seven further plates previously coming loose, now discreetly re-glued. Tissue guard creased, detached at foot. Front free endpaper with trace of bookseller’s penciled notes (erased); further penciled notes/prices to reverse of front free endpaper and rear pastedown; rear pastedown also with original bookseller’s label. Edges of page block with foxing and scratching, top also with darkening. Binding slightly loose. Boards and spine as shown, with pictorial designs unusually well preserved.
A very acceptable copy of this uncommon title, hard to find in any condition |
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