In Fairy-Land: A Series of Pictures from the Elf-World

Very good copy of the first edition of Richard Doyle's fantasy masterpiece.

Complete with16 colour woodblock plates printed by Edmund Evans, each with one to four designs, for a total of 36 charming illustrations. Fairies and elves with dragonfly wings flirt and tease, ride snails, fly in the air on butterfly-drawn leaf carriages, sleep under mushrooms, and joust riding on beetles.

"Looking within himself, Doyle found a fantastic but consistently imagined world in which fairies and elves live in the open air among birds, butterflies, snails, and beetles as large as themselves." (Gordon N. Ray, The Illustrator and the Book in England 1790-1914)

Richard "Dickie" Doyle, 1824-1883, was an English artist and illustrator, son of Irish caricaturist John Doyle and uncle of the writer Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. His began his career at Punch magazine, drawing the cover of the first issue and the masthead. After his success with the Brothers Grimm'sThe Fairy Ring in 1846, Doyle began to specialize in fantasy illustration, illustrating The Enchanted Doll 1849, The Story of Jack and the Giants 1850, The King of the Golden River 1850, An Old Fairy Tale Told Anew 1865, his masterpiece In Fairy-Land 1870, and Princess Nobody published posthumously in 1884.

The folio was richly bound in green cloth with decorative gilt title on front board by Edmonds and Remnants, London, and has been described as one of the finest examples of Victorian book production (Richard Dalby, The Golden Age of Children's Book Illustration).

Edmund Evans was the leading printer of children's illustrations in the Victorian era. His multiple colour woodblock printing technique (chromoxylography) was perfect for the work of artists such as Kate Greenaway, Randolph Caldecott, Walter Crane, etc. The fine woodcuts in this book were the largest he ever printed.

Armorial bookplate of Rt Hon William Henry Smith, 1825-1891, MP and founder of booksellers and newsagent chain, W H Smith.

Original green cloth binding rebacked invisibly with new spine, bright gilt decorative title on front board, both boards with scratches and scuffs, A.E.G. Interior mostly clean and bright, some slight spotting to a few pages and verso of plates, some edges dusty, but all colour woodcuts bright and vivid with good impressions.