In Fairyland. A Series of Pictures from the Elf-World. William Allingham

TITLE: In Fairyland. A Series of Pictures from the Elf-World. With a Poem by William Allingham. Longmans, Green, Reader & Dyer (London), 1870. DESCRIPTION: Folio size 14 7/8 x 10 5/8 inches, 378 x 271 mm., 31 pp. First edition. Illustrated with frontispiece and fifteen full page wood-engraved plates by Richard Doyle printed in color by Edmund Evans. Original dark green pictorial cloth binding with gilt ruling and titling with gilt decorations on front cover and elaborate dense floral & animal gilt spine decorations. Numerous vignette black and white illustrations throughout, including title page. All edges gilt._____CONDITION: Dark green cloth and gilt binding is in exception condition (fine), without the usual rubbing at binding edges and hinges, The text block is square and firm - a rarity for this book - due to professional repair and restoration (see below). Neat flowing inscription to the 1st (simpler) title page. Light toning and foxing to the back of the color frontispiece and rear free end-plate (blank). Light foxing at the edges of the color illustrations throughout - almost always seen due to the specific paper used for the color illustrations, which is different than the text paper - without affecting the illustrations. Text pages remain clear with minimal toning._____IMPORTANT NOTE: This book is often badly flawed due to the original gutta percha binding technique resulting in the text block and individual pages coming loose due to disintegration of the natural rubber with age. This binding has been extensively repaired and restored by a highly regarded bookbinder (Scott Kellar - Chicago) to correct this problem. Specifically, the text block was removed from the original binding and disbound into individual leaves. The leaves were guarded together into signatures with Japanese repair tissue and link-stitched together with linen thread. the restored text block was reattached into the reinforced original cover with linen back lining. The original end sheets were retained.____DISCUSSION: This is a landmark publication which was a major advance in the evolution of color illustration, representing a 19th century high point in color reproduction. Richard Doyle's graceful, whimsical illustrations are widely thought to be his finest work and the Edmund Evans color wood engravings and printing are similarly amongst his finest work. "In Fairyland is one of the finest books ever produced for children, and from the collector's point of view a most desirable item to add to any library of juvenile works, especially copies in the original green, morocco-grained full cloth bindings, pictorially block in gold on the front cover.". (Quayle, The Collector's Book of Children's Books, pg. 41). In summary, this is a beautiful edition of an important book with extensive professional restoration and repair to assure future stability of the binding and text block. Quite rare in this condition. NOTE: International shipping cost to the United Kingdom and Europe is $55 U.S. dollars.