Louis Wain's Happy Land

London: John F. Shaw & Co Ltd. Fair with no dust jacket. (1912). Presumed First UK Edition. Hardcover. NO date shown, but the only Auction record I could find (no other copies available for sale at the time of listing) gives it as circa1912. Half bound with a red cloth spine and black titling to the spine, and pictorial paper-covered boards. The front board has a mounted colour illustration of a cat playing croquet. A full page Tipped-on colour plate (of a cat in bathing dress in the water) on dark grey paper with a black border as a Frontipiece, and 4 other similarly tipped on full page colour plates in the book - 5 Wain full colour plates in all. Plus masses of b/w illustrations most 'signed' by Wain (although a few are unascribed) of Cats, and some Dogs, with a Bear or two, etc, in the body of the book. The book is sound and tight but all extremities to the covers are rubbed/worn. An advert for Wrights Coal Tar Soap in black on the rear board, with a portion (7cm x 1cm) of the plain paper near the cloth spine edge is missing, and the red cloth of the spine showing through. Covers are a bit grubby but present reasonably, and the book is now in a new protective clear - removable - bookfilm plastic cover & looks much better. Internally the plain endpapers show some old browning/patching, probably from old damp, but are complete and have no inscriptions. The paper - as with most of John Shaw's publications which were printed on cheap paper - is friable, and particularly the edge of the title page which is ragged and chipped with some edge loss (no loss to text or illustrations/decoration). A few smallish 'closed' tears here and there in the book, and a couple of tears with a little loss, but Overall the pages, though ALL browned to the edges, and with a few brown spots, etc, here and there in the text, are generally clean. The exception is the reverse of the title page where a former owner has exuberantly tried to emulate Louis Wain, in drawing and colouring a full page cat! SEE IMAGES. I think it's better than a 'Fair' copy, but it's a used Childrens book and difficult to grade. A VERY Scarce title however, and a 'must' for Wain aficionados, cat lovers, and all who love this type of period book. Happy to provide further info/images if required. Please 'ask the bookseller'. ; Small 4to 9" - 11" tall .