MELCHIOR'S DREAM AND OTHER TALES. By J. H. G. Edited by Mrs. Alfred Gatty ... Illustrated by M. S. G. London: Bell and Daldy, 1862. Octavo, five inserted plates with illustrations by Margaret Scott Gatty, original decorated blue cloth stamped in gold and blind, brown coated endpapers. First edition. The author's first book, with introduction by her mother, Margaret Gatty, who also wrote for children, and illustrations by her sister. This book includes "A Bit of Green," her first published story. The allegorical title story is supernatural. All the stories were first published in the MONTHLY PACKET. A very popular collection, reprinted many times. Juliana Ewing (1841-1885), eldest daughter of a Yorkshire clergyman and a mother who wrote for children, entertained her younger siblings with stories and later edited, with her sister, AUNT JUDY'S MAGAZINE. She traveled widely with her soldier husband, including a stint in Canada that furnished settings for many stories. Ewing had become one of the Victorian era's leading authors of children's stories before she died prematurely of cancer of the spine at the age of 44. (See Sutherland, Victorian Fiction, p. 219.). NCBEL III 1049. 1865 New Year's Day gift inscription on half title leaf. Cloth worn at spine ends, spine panel darkened, hairline cracks along inner front hinge, inner rear hinge repaired, still a sound, good copy. (#119563).
Price: $450.00
No statement of printing.