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83 NIELSEN, Kay (illus.); ANDERSEN, Hans Christian. Fairy Tales. London: Hodder and Stoughton, [1924] Signed limited edition, number 36 of 500 copies, signed by the illustrator. The publishers issued both Nielsen’s Hans Andersen and Detmold’s Arabian Nights in their Christmas list for 1924 (under the heading “Give the Best Art Books”). The Nielsen was listed first. The volume gathers 16 classic stories by Hans Christian Andersen, including “The Tinder Box”, “The Real Princess”, and “The Snow Queen”. Kay Nielsen contributed 12 colour plates and other illustrations. Quarto. Original vellum, spine and front cover lettered and elaborately blocked in gilt, top edge gilt, others untrimmed. Colour frontispiece and 11 colour plates, with captioned tissue guards, full-page illustrations, decorations and initial letters throughout by Kay Nielsen. Front cover slightly bowed, spine slightly soiled, some minor internal foxing and browning; a near-fine copy with bright gilt on front cover and clean contents. £3,750 [153256] 84 PARKINS, David. “ Prowlpuss is cunning and wily and sly, / A kingsize cat with one ear and one eye . . .” 1994 Original artwork for Prowlpuss Prowlpuss by Gina Wilson was illustrated by David Parkins and first published by Walker Books in 1994. This piece was created as a sample while the illustrator was trying to find an appropriate approach for the book. Presented to the founding art editor at Walker Books, it became known within the recipient’s family as “the cat that gives me nightmares”.
The book was a critical success and runner-up for a number of awards including the Smarties Prize, Kurt Maschler Award, and British Art Library (V&A) Award. The artist recently recalled his technique for the book: “I mixed prussian blue and burnt umber to get an almost-black and painted the entire surface with that. Then I just used the watercolour impasto over that. It was not without issues. The watercolour dried and cracked – which I rather liked . . . It was great for building up textures. However, Walkers decided that they couldn’t risk scanning the artwork round a drum in case bits pinged off, so they had studio photographs made instead. I rapidly used up all the local stocks of prussian blue and burnt umber and had Walkers sending batches up to Lincoln from London so I could finish the work”. The drawing was presented to Amelia Edwards (1940–2017) of Walker Books. Patrick Benson, writing in The Guardian on 13 December 2017, described Edwards as “one of the most important influences on children’s book publishing in the 20th century. Working with some of the best illustrators and writers of the age, she built a list of classic titles that shaped the reading experience of generations of children”. She was the first employee of Sebastian Walker when he formed Walker Books in 1978 and, in 2001, became the only art director to have won the Eleanor Farjeon award for distinguished services to children’s books. Original drawing (250 × 240 mm) on artist’s board (265 × 245 mm), watercolour and gouache, signed and dated lower right (“David Parkins ‘94”), mounted, framed, and glazed (framed size 365 × 342 mm). Some pencil marks and craquelure to surface; a bright and arresting work. £1,975 [151875] 85 PEAKE, Mervyn. Captain Slaughterboard Drops Anchor. London: Country Life, 1939 With an original drawing for his parents
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times), a film, and a stage play. It is widely accepted as one of the outstanding books for children published in the second half of the 20th century and is rare in fine condition. Octavo. Original green cloth, spine lettered in silver. With dust jacket. Illustrations in the text all by Susan Einzig. A fine and crisp copy. Extremities of dust jacket very slightly worn; a near-fine and unclipped example. £750 [155505]
First edition, first impression, with a fine original pencil sketch by Peake on the front free endpaper, showing Captain Slaughterboard sitting on a rock holding a piece of paper. Across the paper is written in ink “Elizabeth” and below the sketch “from Doc”. This is a presentation copy from the artist’s father, Ernest Cromwell Peake MD (1874–1949), known as Doc, to his wife, Amanda Elizabeth née Powell (1875–1939), known as Elizabeth. This is a close association, and poignant, as Elizabeth died in the year of publication. The leaf is retrospectively signed by Peake at the foot, dated 1940, perhaps when he retrieved the book from his mother’s possessions. The book itself is of legendary scarcity, this first printing of Peake’s first book having been almost entirely lost in a warehouse fire prior to publication. Wartime restrictions precluded immediate reprinting and the book was not reissued until 1945. Quarto. Original decorated paper boards with green cloth spine. With the Peake designed dust jacket printed in colours. Housed in a custom green quarter morocco solander box. Illustrated throughout in black and white by the author. Browning to title page and final leaf as usual but an excellent copy in the rather tanned dust jacket with some small areas of restoration at spine ends and corner folds. £12,500 [138692] 86 PEARCE, A. Philippa. Tom’s Midnight Garden. London: Oxford University Press, 1958 First edition, first impression, of the author’s second book and winner of the 1958 Carnegie Medal. The author’s classic time-slip story has been adapted into a television series (three
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All items are fully described and photographed at peterharrington.co.uk
CHILDREN’S BOOKS & ORIGINAL ARTWORK
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