(Children's Literature, Illustrated Books, Art Monographs) SPIELMANN, M. H. and G. S. LAYARD. KATE GREENAWAY.
London: Adam and Charles Black, 1905. FIRST EDITION. 4to - 10-15/16" x 8-3/4". Publisher's original cream cloth-covered beveled boards with blind-stamped decoration and bright gilt lettering to the upper cover and spine. Top edge gilt; red silk bookmark bound in. Color pictorial endpapers after a wallpaper design by Kate Greenaway. xix, [1], 300, [4] pp. plus [86] leaves of plates (52 in color; 34 in black and white). Deluxe edition limited to 500 copies (this being No. 456), signed by the artist's brother, John Greenaway. Features an added leaf facing the half-title page, also signed by John Greenaway, incorporating an authenticated original pencil drawing by Kate Greenaway measuring 4" x 2" depicting a young maiden. Gift inscription dated 10th August 1906 on the dedication page.
The physical condition of the item is graded FINE (utilizing the standard antiquarian book grading scale for works on paper). The cream cloth boards remain exceptionally clean and square with bright, unrubbed gilt and crisp beveled edges. The internal text block, plates, and silk ribbon are tight, immaculate, and pristine throughout. The physical condition of the original drawing is graded (6/10) - VERY GOOD (utilizing a standardized 10-point scale for photographic prints and original works of art, indicating moderate or mild condition issues that attract the eye under normal viewing conditions), exhibiting a small, discolored spot plainly visible on the blank paper surface to the right of the figure.
Edwardian Deluxe Publishing and the Legacy of Kate Greenaway
Published in 1905 by Adam and Charles Black, this authoritative biography by Marion Harry Spielmann and George Somes Layard remains the standard monograph detailing the life, correspondence, and artistic development of Kate Greenaway (1846–1901). Alongside Walter Crane and Randolph Caldecott, Greenaway revolutionized late Victorian children's literature through her delicate aesthetic, nostalgic Regency-era costume designs, and masterful color woodblock illustrations rendered in collaboration with engraver Edmund Evans. Following her death in 1901, A. & C. Black honored her artistic legacy by issuing this luxury large-paper edition de luxe, limited strictly to 500 copies. Each copy was attested by her brother and executor, John Greenaway, who affixed a unique, authenticated original pencil sketch from the artist's private studio remnants onto an inserted leaf, offering a direct link to her creative process.
Series Bibliography, Census, and Market Scarcity
Because of the highly desirable inclusion of original Greenaway manuscript sketches and the delicate nature of the cream cloth binding, complete examples of the 1905 edition de luxe are exceptionally difficult to locate in untarnished condition. The pale cloth covers are notoriously vulnerable to soil, darkening, and spine dulling, while many copies have historically been disbound by art dealers to harvest the original drawing for separate framing. While WorldCat records aggregate holdings of the 1905 A. & C. Black title broadly across all issues, surviving examples of this 500-copy deluxe issue retaining their original mounted pencil sketches and pristine cloth bindings remain genuinely rare in institutional special collections and the antiquarian trade alike.
THIS EXCEPTIONALLY WELL-PRESERVED DELUXE LIMITED EDITION WITH ORIGINAL ARTWORK OFFERS AN OUTSTANDING SURVIVING EXAMPLE OF EARLY TWENTIETH-CENTURY MONOGRAPHIC PUBLISHING, REPRESENTING A CRITICAL ACQUISITION FOR INSTITUTIONAL SPECIAL COLLECTIONS OR EXTRAORDINARY PRIVATE COLLECTIONS DEVOTED TO THE HISTORY OF VICTORIAN ILLUSTRATION, CHILDREN'S LITERATURE, OR EDWARDIAN DELUXE PUBLISHING AND FINE BINDING.
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