This beautiful and rare antique edition of Grimm's Fairy Tales was Illustrated by George Soper and published by Headley Bros. The book is undated but after some research, I'd estimate it to have been published circa 1915.
The book is bound in blue cloth with the front board showing a representation of Hansel and Gretel with their nemesis the Witch! The spine features someone up climbing up Rapunzel's tower using her hair.
It's a lovely binding and a hard one to find. It's in good condition but there are condition points to be aware of. The corners show some wear and there is light marking to the boards. The boards are slightly bowed with rubbing to the board edges and spine edges. The spine is sunned, with crushing to the spine ends which has caused some minor splitting in the cloth. There is foxing to the text block edges.
Inside, the endpapers are beautifully illustrated and there is a bookseller's sticker glued to the front corner of the front pastedown. There is cracking to the hinges and to the gutter at places throughout the book. Some pages feel a little shaky but all remain securely bound. The pages show age toning throughout, with sporadic foxing and marking. There is creasing to the pages in places.
There are beautiful tipped in colour plates alongside black and white line drawings by George Soper throughout.
Dimensions approximately 21.5cm x 17.3cm x 3.8cm.
The book will arrive hand wrapped in patterned wallpaper and string.
I use a range of eco friendly, 100% recyclable jiffy bags and boxes, and whenever possible I use brown paper tape. The green bubble wrap is biodegradable and the clear bubble wrap is 100% recyclable. I also reuse boxes when I feel it's appropriate (if the boxes are sturdy enough).