Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Kingsley, Charles. The Water-Babies: A Fairy Tale for a Land-Baby. Macmillan & Co., London, 1863.
Price: US$50.00 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: First edition without "L'envoi" leaf. Illustrations opp. title page, and p.145. Original cover rubbed and worn at extremities, good only. Occasional pencilled notation. Rear board detached.
Seller: Montreal Books, Westmount, QC, Canada
Kingsley, Charles. The Water-Babies: A Fairy Tale for a Land-Baby. Macmillan & Co., London, 1863.
Price: US$50.00 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: First edition without "L'envoi" leaf. Illustrations opp. title page, and p.145. Original cover rubbed and worn at extremities, good only. Occasional pencilled notation. Rear board detached.
Seller: RPBooks, Champlain, NY, U.S.A.
Price: US$250.00 + shipping
Description: 350 pp. With two illustrations by J. Noel Paton. 8vo, later full blue polished calf; gilt paneled spine; t.e.g., by Morrell, Binder, London. First edition, second state, lacking the scarce L'Envoi leaf. Spine slightly sunned; otherwise a very attractive copy, handsomely bound.
Seller: Jeffrey H. Marks, Rare Books, ABAA, Rochester, NY, U.S.A.
Kingsley, Charles. The Water Babies. A Fairy Tale for a Land-Baby. Macmillan, 1863.
Price: US$269.49 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: Macmillan and Co.London.,1863. FIRST EDITION. Large 8vo.(8.1 x 6.4 inches) Second state, without the L'Envoi leaf, which was removed from all but the first couple of hundred copies by the publishers after fears that it may cause offence. Frontis and plate by Paton and two full page illustrations by Noel Paton. Publishers original green cloth with triple gilt ruled borders on front board,the rear board triple ruled in blind. Circular gilt rowndell (designed by Kingsley) to centre of front board. Stain marks above the rowndell. Spine lettered in gilt. Dark brown endpapers. Top edge gilt. Previous owners name neatly written on front blank endpaper. Some rubbing and tearing to the top and bottom of spine and corners a bit bumped. Overall a good copy for age. Ref 0
Seller: Coach Books, Hutton Roof, United Kingdom
Price: US$449.14 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: First edition, second issue. [vi], 350, [1 pub ads.] pp. Recently bound in full dark blue morocco, with gilt decoration to boards and five raised bands, brown title labels and gilding to spine. All edges gilt. Internally bright with occasional limited foxing. Includes two illustrations by J. Noel Paton. Without the 'L'envoi' leaf. 1863 ink inscription to first pp. With the original gilt decorated cloth cover bound in at the rear. 8vo.
Seller: Foster Books - Stephen Foster - ABA, ILAB, & PBFA, London, United Kingdom
Kingsley, Charles. Water Babies (with L'envoi leaf). Macmillan, London, 1863.
Price: US$449.14 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Later blue full-leather binding, thin gilt border, Bayntun of Bath, marbled end-papers, gilt page edges, original binding bound into the back of the book. (See photos.) Has the L'envoi poem, after the dedications page. The original front cover, spine, and back cover cloth occupy the last few pages of the book, after the page advertising The Fairy Book. Bund (sic) by Bayntun (Riviere), Bath, England, printed in very small letters in top left corner on reverse of front end-paper. Spine faded, back cover a little scratched, and superficial marks to front cover. Light foxing appears, to a greater or lesser degree, thoroughout the book. Any enquiries welcome. Extra postage costs will be needed to cover insurance.
Seller: Paragon Books BA FSB, Sidmouth, United Kingdom
Price: US$500.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: A handsome, very presentable copy of the 1863 1st edition, 2nd issue (lacking the "L'Envoi" page just following the Dedication page). Solid and VG+ in its dark-green cloth, with bright gilt-design and bordering along the front panel and bright gilt-titling at the spine. One neat, faint 1863 presentation inscription from 2 daughters to their father, light rubbing to the panels. Firm binding, which shows very light cocking. Octavo, top-edge gilt, with 2 illustrations (including the frontispiece) by J. Noel Paton. Also includes an elegant, custom-made, 1/4 morocco dark-green box, which has protected the fragile book nicely.
Seller: APPLEDORE BOOKS, ABAA, WACCABUC, NY, U.S.A.
Price: US$506.89 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: Large 8vo. 1863. First edition "complete with the rare lf at signature B, with the poem 'L'Envoi', which Kingsley suppressed during the printing". (after circa 200 copies). OSBORNE P359. WOLFF's copy (3812) is in "publishers' full dark brown cloth" with "blank lf, precedes half title, 28 blank". In this copy both lls have pub. ads. 2 plates. Slightly grubby and age toned. Foxing to frontis. tissue. Very small ?chew mark to bottom margin of first 3 lls. Publishers' cloth gilt with spine relaid (no loss). Spine title and publishers' name rubbed with loss and some marking to rear board. Corners bumped. Good. Images available on request.
Seller: Bath House Books, Ditchingham, United Kingdom
Price: US$765.94 + shipping
Description: This copy is from the rare first issue of the first edition. It contains a leaf bearing a poem, L'Envoi [following the dedication page]. Kingsley had second thoughts about this while the book was being printed, and he had the leaf removed, but not before a few hundred copies of the book had already been printed (Gottlieb, Early Children's Books and Their Illustration, 113). Very good copy in a fine period binding - Professionally and sympathetically rebacked with the spine laid back. Spine bands and panel edges slightly dust-toned and rubbed as with age. Gilt-blocked leather label (somewhat worn) to spine, with raised bands and spine compartments uniformly tooled in gilt. Gilt and blind-tooled double-lined borders to panels. "Honoris Causa" gilt-stamped on front panel - "Eliot Place" on rear. All edges gilt. Marbled endpapers. Scattered foxing around prelims and terminal leaves. Marginal foxing evident around the second plate facing p.145. Water staining also evident along bottom of prelims., including the frontis. and title page. Remains particularly well-preserved overall; tight, bright, clean and strong. Further scans, images etc. and additional bibliographical material available on request.; 8vo 8" - 9" tall; 350 pages; Physical description: 350p., [2] leaves of plates : ill. ; 22 cm. Summary: The Water-Babies was inspired by Kingsley's thoughts on evolution. He was one of the few clergymen to accept wholeheartedly Darwin's theories of evolution and natural selection and to devote himself to the spread of the new knowledge of nature. Subjects: Children -- Conduct of life -- Juvenile fiction -- Chimney sweeps -- Fairies -- Evolution. 1 Kg.
Seller: MW Books Ltd., Galway, Ireland
Kingsley, Charles. The Water Babies. London & Cambridge: Macmillan,, 1863.
Price: US$769.96 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: First edition, first issue, 8vo (190 x 134mm.) Complete with the half-title, 2 engraved plates by J. Noel Paton, and 'L'Envoi' leaf at B1. minor very occasional light soiling, 1 plate slightly trimmed lower margin with minor chipping, very light spotting to rear endpaper, bound without advertisement leaf. 20th century red straight-grain half morocco with renewed front-free endpaper. Note: Kingsley suppressed the 'L'Envoi' leaf after the first 200 copies were printed. Provenance: Emily C. Beauchamp - name inscribed to initial blank.
Seller: Finecopy, Westbury, WILTS, United Kingdom
Price: US$834.12 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: FIRST EDITION. Large 8vo. (8.1 x 6.4 inches). Second state, without with the L'Envoi poem leaf at the start of the book, which Kingsley had removed from all but the first few hundred copies issued. Two full page mono plates and 8 smaller engravings, one at the start of each chapter, by J. Noel Paton. Some occasional light foxing to a few pages, mostly to the margins. Finely bound in early twentieth century half tan calf leather binding by Riviere. Spine with five raised bands, each with gilt piping. Compartments ruled, decorated and lettered in gilt. Tan cloth on boards. Marbled endpapers. Top edge gilt. A little rubbing to the corners but overall a very good, highly attractive copy of this Victorian classic. -- More photos available on request.
Seller: Paul Foster. - ABA & PBFA Member., London, United Kingdom
Price: US$844.00 + shipping
Description: This copy is from the rare first issue of the first edition. It contains a leaf bearing a poem, L'Envoi [following the dedication page]. Kingsley had second thoughts about this while the book was being printed, and he had the leaf removed, but not before a few hundred copies of the book had already been printed (Gottlieb, Early Children's Books and Their Illustration, 113). Very good copy in a fine period binding - Professionally and sympathetically rebacked with the spine laid back. Spine bands and panel edges slightly dust-toned and rubbed as with age. Gilt-blocked leather label (somewhat worn) to spine, with raised bands and spine compartments uniformly tooled in gilt. Gilt and blind-tooled double-lined borders to panels. "Honoris Causa" gilt-stamped on front panel - "Eliot Place" on rear. All edges gilt. Marbled endpapers. Scattered foxing around prelims and terminal leaves. Marginal foxing evident around the second plate facing p.145. Water staining also evident along bottom of prelims., including the frontis. and title page. Remains particularly well-preserved overall; tight, bright, clean and strong. Further scans, images etc. and additional bibliographical material available on request.; 8vo 8" - 9" tall; 350 pages; Physical description: 350p., [2] leaves of plates : ill. ; 22 cm. Summary: The Water-Babies was inspired by Kingsley's thoughts on evolution. He was one of the few clergymen to accept wholeheartedly Darwin's theories of evolution and natural selection and to devote himself to the spread of the new knowledge of nature. Subjects: Children -- Conduct of life -- Juvenile fiction -- Chimney sweeps -- Fairies -- Evolution. 1 Kg.
Seller: MW Books, New York, NY, U.S.A.
Charles Kingsley. The Water Babies (first issue in original binding). Macmillan, 1863.
Price: US$900.00 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: "The Water Babies" by CHarles Kingsley. Macmillan, London 1863 first UK edition, first issue, with L'Envoi f., frontispiece & 1 plate by Paton, 1f. publisher's advertisements, 1f. author's book list at front, bookseller's label to front pastedown, ownership inscriptions to front endpaper, some browning and foxing, original green cloth, stamped in gilt and blind, rebacked preserving original backstrip, a little worn at corners. One of the very few rare first issue copies of Kingsley's famous children's book that garnered a lot of controversy.
Seller: Neverland Books, waalre, Netherlands
Price: US$1219.10 + shipping
Description: First edition, second issue, of Kingsley's "most enduringly popular work" (ODNB), attractively bound. The story was originally serialised in Macmillans' Magazine from August 1862 to March 1863. The Water-Babies "began as a story for [Kingley's] own children and an attack on the continuing employment of climbing boys to sweep chimneys. But the story sends little Tom on an evolutionary moral journey and includes incidental satiric commentary on education, fashion, and current affairs, as well as mockery of post-Darwinian controversies about human descent and distinctiveness and the nature of scientific evidence" (ibid.). The book initiated the first golden age of children's books in England: Kingsley "was the first writer in England, perhaps the first in the world, except for H. C. Andersen, to discover that a children's book can be the perfect vehicle for an adult's most personal and private concerns. it was quite different from anything else written for children. in a small space, it managed to discover and explore almost all the directions that children's books would take over the next 100 years" (Carpenter, pp. 24-37). The second issue was published without the "L'Envoi" leaf: "Kingsley had second thoughts about this while the book was being printed, and he had the leaf removed, but not before a few hundred copies of the book had already gone forth" (Gottlieb). Gerald Gottlieb, Early Children's Books and Their Illustration, 113; Grolier Children's 100, 34. Humphrey Carpenter, Secret Gardens: a Study of the Golden Age of Children's Literature, 1985. Quarto (192 x 148 mm). Early 20th-century half vellum, smooth spine divided by twin gilt fillets, red morocco label, green cloth sides ruled in gilt, marbled endpapers, top edge gilt. Lithographic frontispiece and one similar plate after drawings by Sir Joseph Noël Paton, elaborate wood-engraved initials after Robert Charles Dudley. Contemporary ownership inscription "Annie + Nelly Codrington" on half-title. Couple of small marks to spine and rear cover, abrasion on front pastedown from bookplate removal, foxing to outer leaves, contents otherwise generally clean. A very good, fresh copy.
Seller: Peter Harrington. ABA/ ILAB., London, United Kingdom
Kingsley, Charles. THE WATER-BABIES, A FAIRY TALE FOR A LAND-BABY. Macmillan, London, 1863.
Price: US$1250.00 + shipping
Description: First edition. [viii], 350p, [i, ads]. Bound with half-title, lacking the l'envoi leaf. With two illustrations by J. Noel Paton. Bound by Bayntun-Riviere in half dark green crushed morocco with marbled endpapers, t.e.g., the spine with gilt titles and stylized floral panel ornaments. Original cloth upper cover bound in rear. Housed in cloth clamshell box. Laid in is an autograph letter signed by Charles Kingsley dated 1869 on letterhead embossed "Ebersley Rectory, Winchfield" reminding a parishioner of an overdue title. Crease to title-page, else fine
Seller: First Folio A.B.A.A., Paris, TN, U.S.A.
Price: US$1604.08 + shipping
Description: First edition, without the L'Envoi leaf as is almost always encountered as the author had it removed from all but the first 200 or so copies. With two illustrations by J. Noel Paton and with a number of small illustrations used throughout as opening initials. 8vo., recently finely bound by Bayntun Riviere in half green morocco, spine lettered in gilt with gilt centre tools.
Seller: G. Heywood Hill Ltd ABA, London, United Kingdom
Kingsley, Charles. The Water-Babies. London & Cambridge: Macmillan and Co, 1863.
Price: US$1604.08 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: First edition, first issue (Macmillan & Co, 1863) with lenvoi leaf present, of which there were only believed to be around 200 copies. Housed in an attractive morocco drop-back box with raised bands, blue compartments, gilt lettering and marbled boards. Original green cloth. Spine re-backed using most of the original, only lacking the tips and a small square hole just below the centre. Occasional light foxing and a little rubbing to covers. Hinges neatly reinforced. Free from names and inscriptions. A very good example of a very rare book.
Seller: Fine Book Cellar Ltd. ABA ILAB PBFA, Chelmsford, United Kingdom
Charles Kingsley. The Water-Babies A Fairy Take for a Land-Baby. Macmillan and Co., London, 1863.
Price: US$1764.49 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: A scarce first edition, first issue of Kingsley's noted work, The Water Babies, with the exceptionally scarce L'envoi leaf. The first edition, first issue with the exceptionally scarce L'envoi leaf. During publication, Kingsley had second thoughts regarding the inclusion of the poem, and had the leaf removed, but not before approximately two hundred copies of the book had been printed. With two full page plates by J. Noel Paton. Bound without the advertisement leaf. Rebound in half morocco. With the bookplate of Raymond Richards to front pastedown. Contemporary gift inscription to front blank. The Water-Babies is a canonical children's work, written in part as satire, in support of Charles Darwin's 'The Origin of Species'. The book quickly became an extremely popular and influential work of British children's literature, following the story of Tom, a young chimney sweep, who becomes a 'water-baby' and begins a moral education. In a half morocco binding with cloth covered boards. Externally smart with rubbing to the extremities and the head and tail of the spine. The odd mark to the boards. With the bookplate of Raymond Richards to front pastedown. Contemporary gift inscription to front blank. Hinge is strained after frontispiece. Bookplate to front pastedown. Internally firmly bound. Page bright and clean with just the odd spot, heavier to the first and last few pages. Very Good
Seller: Rooke Books PBFA, Bath, United Kingdom
Price: US$1850.00 + shipping
Description: "Just Another Destitute Little Chimney-Sweep" or "The Oddest Fairy Tale That There Has Ever Been. A Near Fine Copy Of The First Edition of The Water-Babies KINGSLEY, Charles. The Water-Babies: A Fairy Tale for a Land-Baby. With two illustrations by J. Noel Paton, R.S.A. London & Cambridge: Macmillan and Co., 1863. First edition, second state. Small square octavo (8 x 6 1/8 inches; 203 x 155 mm.). [viii], [3], 4-350, [1 advertisements], 1 blank. Without the âL'Envoi' leaf which was canceled early on by Kingsley. Inserted frontispiece and full-page illustration opposite p. 145. With eight large engraved initial chapter letters. Original dark green fine-grain cloth, front cover with gilt triple-rule border enclosing a pictorial gilt center device depicting Tom, a Fish and a Sea-Horse. Spine ruled and lettered in gilt. Dark brown coated endpapers, top edge gilt. With the binders ticket of Burn of Kirby St., on the rear pastedown. Unidentified rectangular bookplate on front paste-down. A couple of small and very light spots on front cover, inner hinges with partial expert and almost invisible repairs. Otherwise a superlative copy, the gilt bright and fresh, of this scarce children's classic. Contemporary neat ink inscription on verso of front end-paper dated "Xmas 1863." Housed in a fleece-lined, quarter green morocco over green cloth clamshell case. "Charles Kingsley was a rural vicar in Victorian England, and the "land-baby" of the sub-title was his youngest son, five-year-old Grenville Arthur. In writing this fairy tale about the underwater adventures of Tom, a chimney-sweep's climbing-boy, Kingsley uttered many a sermon. But along with his zeal for Anglican Christianity he also brought into play his enthusiasm for nature and his strong sense of indignation at the Victorian practice of using small children as laborers. The difference between the first and second states is solely the removal of the L'Envoi leaf. The first state "contains a leaf bearing a poem, L'Envoi. Kingsley had second thoughts about this while the book was being printed, and he had the leaf removed, but not before a few hundred copies of the book had already gone forth." (Gottlieb, Early Children's Books and Their Illustration, 113). Grolier 100, 34.
Seller: David Brass Rare Books, Inc., Calabasas, CA, U.S.A.
Price: US$2100.00 + shipping
Description: 8vo. Bound in full crushed red morocco by Sotheran, with decorative gilt borders, raised bands, decorative gilt panels, gilt spine title, inside dentelles, top edge gilt. [viii], [3], 4-350, 1 blank pages. Illustrated by Noel Paton. "Just Another Destitute Little Chimney-Sweep" or "The Oddest Fairy Tale That There Has Ever Been? First edition. Grolier 100, 34. Bookplate of Irwin Laughlin on front pastedown. Rubbed along hinges and corners, else a fine copy. A lovely binding. With two illustrations by J. Noel Paton (Inserted frontispiece and full-page illustration opposite p. 145. ) and with a number of small illustrations used throughout as opening initials. Printed by R. Clay, Son, and Taylor, Printers. Without the L'Envoi leaf as is almost always encountered as the author had it removed from all but the first 200 or so copies. The difference between the first and second states is solely the removal of the L'Envoi leaf. The first state "contains a leaf bearing a poem, L'Envoi. Kingsley had second thoughts about this while the book was being printed, and he had the leaf removed, but not before a few hundred copies of the book had already gone forth." (Gottlieb, Early Children's Books and Their Illustration, 113). A very beautiful and very handsome copy, the text wonderfully bright and clean for this title, the fine binding. SCARCE FIRST EDITION IN A WONDERFUL BINDING BY SOTHERAN. Kingsley's WATER BABIES was extremely popular and remained a mainstay of English children's literature for many decades. Kingsley wrote the work as part satire in support for Darwin's 'Origin of Species', which Kingsley had been one of the earliest public figures to praise. Within the tale Kingsley alludes to debates among biologists of its day, satirizing and at various times referring to Sir Roderick Murchison, Professor Richard Owen, Professor Thomas Henry Huxley, and of course, "Mr. Darwin" They, and the science of the period become explicitly part of the story. The story is also thematically concerned with Christian redemption, and Kingsley also used the book to argue that England treated its poor badly, and to question child labour. Unfortunate common prejudices of its day, particularly in reference to Americans, Jews, blacks, Catholics and the Irish, have led to the story's fall from popularity. "Charles Kingsley was a rural vicar in Victorian England, and the "land-baby" of the sub-title was his youngest son, five-year-old Grenville Arthur. In writing this fairy tale about the underwater adventures of Tom, a chimney-sweep's climbing-boy, Kingsley uttered many a sermon. But along with his zeal for Anglican Christianity he also brought into play his enthusiasm for nature and his strong sense of indignation at the Victorian practice of using small children as laborers. Bound in full crushed red morocco by Sotheran, with decorative gilt borders, raised bands, decorative gilt panels, gilt spine title, inside dentelles, top edge gilt
Seller: Oak Knoll Books, ABAA, ILAB, NEW CASTLE, DE, U.S.A.
Price: US$2245.71 + shipping
Description: First edition, second issue, of Kingsley's "most enduringly popular work" (ODNB). The story was originally serialized in Macmillan's Magazine from August 1862 to March 1863. This copy has an appealing provenance, from the library of of the English writer Richard Adams (1920-2016), author of Watership Down, with his pictorial bookplate on the front pastedown. The Water-Babies "began as a story for [Kingley's] own children and an attack on the continuing employment of climbing boys to sweep chimneys. But the story sends little Tom on an evolutionary moral journey and includes incidental satiric commentary on education, fashion, and current affairs, as well as mockery of post-Darwinian controversies about human descent and distinctiveness and the nature of scientific evidence" (ibid.). The book initiated the first golden age of children's books in England: Kingsley "was the first writer in England, perhaps the first in the world, except for H. C. Andersen, to discover that a children's book can be the perfect vehicle for an adult's most personal and private concerns. it was quite different from anything else written for children. in a small space, it managed to discover and explore almost all the directions that children's books would take over the next 100 years" (Carpenter, pp. 24-37). The second issue was published without the "L'Envoi" leaf: "Kingsley had second thoughts about this while the book was being printed, and he had the leaf removed, but not before a few hundred copies of the book had already gone forth" (Gottlieb). Gerald Gottlieb, Early Children's Books and Their Illustration, 113; Grolier Children's 100, 34. Humphrey Carpenter, Secret Gardens: a Study of the Golden Age of Children's Literature, 1985. Quarto (194 x 147 mm). Mid 20th-century green morocco by Bayntun (Rivière) for Sotheran, spine with raised bands, gilt lettering and elaborate decoration in compartments, double gilt fillet frame on covers, gilt design of lilies, lily pads, and fish, board edges and turn-ins tooled in gilt, marbled endpapers, edges gilt. Lithographic frontispiece and one similar plate after drawings by Sir Joseph Noël Paton, elaborate wood-engraved initials after Robert Charles Dudley. Spine slightly faded, discreet paper repair on half-title, lower edge of title page shaved touching last line of text, couple of spots of foxing, otherwise clean. A very good copy, presenting handsomely in the binding.
Seller: Peter Harrington. ABA/ ILAB., London, United Kingdom
Price: US$2250.00 + shipping
Description: First Edition, First Issue. Three-quarter calf, marbled boards with gilt vignette on cover, re-backed. 350pp. The scarce 1st edition, 1st issue, with L'Envoi poem at leaf B (following erratum page), which was suppressed by Kingsley during the printing of the first edition. Superb and celebrated frontispiece by J. Noel Paton, others in the text. Front cover detached, wear; [together with] a splendid copy of the first edition copy (without the suppressed plate) in full green publisher's cloth, with the main fault being fraying and peeling at base of spine affecting small corner of cover (in need of repair), corners worn, slight loss of gilt to ruling on perimeter. Advertisement leaf at front, clean and bright internally. First editions of Water-Babies in the original cloth are extremely scarce, and so is the first issue without "L'Envoi" poem.
Seller: Nudelman Rare Books, Seattle, WA, U.S.A.
Price: US$4345.00 + shipping
Description: First edition, without the L'Envoi leaf as is almost always encountered as the author had it removed from all but the first 200 or so copies. With two full page plates by J. Noel Paton and with a number of small illustrations used throughout as opening initials. 8vo, in a very fine and very handsome Bayntun of Bath binding of full navy crushed morocco, the covers decorated with handsome all-over geometric gilt framework tooling, the spine with gilt tooled raised bands separating compartments with matching geometric gilt decorations, two compartments gilt lettered, wide gilt decorated turn-ins and marbled endpapers, a.e.g., The publisher's original green cloth preserved and bound in the rear, the upper piece with central gilt Water Baby vignette, the spine piece gilt lettered. Also retained is the original half-title. Now all in preserved in a blue cloth slipcase with chemise. 350 pp. A very beautiful and very handsome copy, the text wonderfully bright and clean for this title, the fine binding pristine and perfect. SCARCE FIRST EDITION IN A WONDERFUL BINDING BY BAYNTUN OF BATH. Kingsley's WATER BABIES was extremely popular and remained a mainstay of English children's literature for many decades. Kingsley wrote the work as part satire in support for Darwin's 'Origin of Species', which Kingsley had been one of the earliest public figures to praise. Within the tale Kingsley alludes to debates among biologists of its day, satirizing and at various times referring to Sir Roderick Murchison, Professor Richard Owen, Professor Thomas Henry Huxley, and of course, "Mr. Darwin" They, and the science of the period become explicitly part of the story. The story is also thematically concerned with Christian redemption, and Kingsley also used the book to argue that England treated its poor badly, and to question child labour. Unfortunate common prejudices of its day, particularly in reference to Americans, Jews, blacks, Catholics and the Irish, have led to the story's fall from popularity.
Seller: Buddenbrooks, Inc., Newburyport, MA, U.S.A.
Price: US$5000.00 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: First edition, first printing. First issue with "L'Envoy" leaf present. Bound in publisher's original dark blue cloth stamped in gilt, brown coated endsheets. Good. Cloth worn at corners and spine ends, with frayed started at the rear joint. Cloth lightly rubbed, with front cover mottled. Front and rear inner hinges are exposed, leaving binding a bit tender. Pages toned. Effaced owner inscription still evident on half-title page. Kingsley quickly withdrew the first issue with the poem L'Envoi, leaving only several hundred copies being published as such. Uncommon in the original cloth. Laid in is a a short hand-written note signed by Kingsley.
Seller: Burnside Rare Books, ABAA, Portland, OR, U.S.A.