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drawing by MacKinstry of four figures in ink, including a girl with a hoop and stick. This drawing measures 96 × 116 mm on paper (sheet size: 101 × 147 mm). Original drawing (186 × 122 mm) on paper (274 × 216 mm), ink and watercolour, unsigned, mounted. Together with a presentation copy of the published book, octavo, original cloth, spine lettered in black, front cover with yellow label. Some light toning; a fine and unfaded drawing. Front joint of book splitting with loss to head and foot of spine. ¶ The Washington Post , 12 December 1926; The Hartford Courant , 12 November 1933. £2,750 [155818] 70 MASEFIELD, John. The Box of Delights. London: William Heinemann, 1935 First edition, first impression, of the author’s influential fantasy novel for children. Writing in The Guardian in 2017, the author Piers Torday noted that “long before Harry Potter , The Box of Delights remade children’s fantasy”, and in The Telegraph in 2020 a headline stated “You’d never have J. K. Rowling without John Masefield”. The first edition is comparatively scarce. Copies in the dust jacket, designed by Judith Masefield, are rare. Many authors, including Angela Carter, C. S. Lewis, Alan Garner, and Neil Gaiman have noted the influence of the book on their writing. Octavo. Original blue cloth, spine and front cover lettered in gilt, pictorial endpapers printed in black, red, and blue, top edge dark blue. With dust jacket. 26 vignettes by Judith Masefield and one drawing by the author. Extremities slightly rubbed, some foxing throughout, minor loss to and remnants of removed bookplate from front free endpaper; a very good copy. Toned and foxed dust jacket worn with loss to extremities, lacking portion of rear panel and spine; an unclipped example but good only. ¶ Errington A115(a). £375 [155508]
Original pale orange cloth, spine and front cover lettered in blue, pictorial label to front cover, illustrated endpapers. Coloured frontispiece, 2 plates, 9 full-page illustrations, 21 illustrations in text, and decorated initials, all by the author. Spine tips slightly bumped, spine toned, extremities rubbed; a very good and internally clean copy. £700 [154801] 69 MacKINSTRY, Elizabeth (illus.); ANDERSEN, Hans Christian. “It was the Snow-Queen”. 1933 Original artwork for a Hans Christian Andersen story with related material Published within Andersen’s Fairy Tales in 1933. The illustration shows the “little boy” named Kay as he discovers the identity of the driver of the large sledge to which he has tied his own. It was originally reproduced on page 218 of the edition published in New York by Coward-McCann. The watercolour is accompanied by a presentation copy of the published book, inscribed by the artist on the half-title, “To Rose Dobbs – the astonishing, perfect Editor! from her grateful Elizabeth MacKinstry. July 7. 1933”. The recipient worked at the publishing firm of Coward-McCann and, presumably, on this volume. The American book illustrator Elizabeth MacKinstry (1879–1956) was also known as a poet and sculptor. Showing great musical talent as a violinist, MacKinstry was sent to Paris at the age of seven. She studied under Eugène Ysaÿe, known as “the king of the violin”, and embarked upon a professional career which was cut short by ill-health. During her studies in Paris, she developed an interest in art, nurtured by regular visits to the Louvre. Returning to the US, MacKinstry became a teacher at the Buffalo Fine Arts Academy from 1911 to 1913. She then studied sculpture with Auguste Rodin, which influenced her illustration style. Her first illustrated book was published in 1925 and was reviewed under the headline “Illustration is not a Lost Art” in the Washington Post . MacKinstry subsequently
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67 LEWIS, C. S. The Last Battle. London: The Bodley Head, 1956 Rare uncorrected advance proof copy of the final book in the Narnia series, with the publisher’s compliments slip pasted to the half-title. Proof copies for any of the Narnia books are genuinely rare; this is the first we have handled, and none traced in auction records. There is a handwritten correction on p. 58 (corrected in the first edition), and the signatures of some gatherings are visible in the margins. The Last Battle won the annual Carnegie Medal from the Library Association, recognising the year’s best children’s book by a British subject. Octavo. Original grey wrappers, front cover lettered in black. Black and white illustrations within the text by Pauline Baynes. Spine cocked, front wrapper pulling slightly from book block, correction fluid over ownership name to title page, couple of marks to contents, but overall well-preserved. £3,750 [156858] 68 LOFTING, Hugh. The Story of Doctor Dolittle. New York: Frederick A. Stokes Company, 1920 First edition, first printing, of the first book in the Doctor Dolittle series which would run to 15 titles. The US edition predates the UK edition by four years.
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enjoyed an extensive career in book illustration. There are collections of her papers, including original artwork, at the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library of Yale University and at the Special Collections of the University of Oregon. Produced as a contribution to the Christmas 1933 Gift Book selection, this volume was described by a reviewer in The Hartford Courant as “a charming holiday edition”. Within the introduction to the book, Anne Carroll Moore notes that “as a mature artist uncommonly rich in significant tradition, Miss MacKinstry has given a life and reality to these dramas in miniature”. Also included is a greetings card inscribed “Dear Rose Dobbs, The best of New Years for you and how – How the Beloved E. Nesbit does take one back! Yours cordially. E. MacKinstry. 1932”. The card opens to reveal an original
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All items are fully described and photographed at peterharrington.co.uk
CHILDREN’S BOOKS & ORIGINAL ARTWORK
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