Grimm’s Fairy Tales (Ward Lock, reprint c1930s) | illustrated by Harry G. Theaker

Grimm’s Fairy Tales

illustrated by Harry G. Theaker
Ward, Lock & Co. Limited, [No Date] circa 1930s

A volume in the 48 colour plate (incl. endpapers) ‘Prince Charming’ series from Ward, Lock & Co., published from the late 1910s and through the 1920s/1930s. Titles include ‘Alice in Wonderland’, ‘Hans Andersen’s Fairy Stories’, ‘Robinson Crusoe’, ‘The Water-Babies’, and ‘Tales from Shakespeare’.

Harry George Theaker (1873-1954) illustrated several titles in this series, including ‘Stories of King Arthur’ (1925), ‘Robin Hood and his Merry Men’ (1927), and ‘The Adventures of Don Quixote’ (1929). Originally published in 1920*, this copy being a later reprint of maybe the late 1930s – a gift inscription is dated 1940.

Hardback. Publisher’s page green-grey cloth with onlay plate to front board; titles and decoration in black to front and spine. pp [i]-x, [11]-344, including colour plates and illustrated endpapers. Size: 8.5 x 6.5 inches approx. (215mm x 162mm).

Light wear and rubbing of cloth to extremities, especially corner tips, hinges and spine ends; cloth a little marked in places, some splash marks to lower quarter of spine; cloth slightly bubbled to rear board, upper corner near spine. Half-title page foxed and with some offsetting, a gift inscription in ink; pages age toned, some scattered foxing and some occasional dusty/grubby finger prints, generally though pages remain clean and plates bright; edges of page-block dusty, foxed/spotted with some encroachment into margins.

Overall, showing some light wear commensurate with age and handling but otherwise a nice, clean and attractive copy – lovely.

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References

British Library

Alan Horne , The Dictionary of 20th Century British Book Illustrators (Antique Collectors’ Club, 1994)