Hodder & Stoughton ephemera: Christmas List [1910] with Dulac’s ‘Sleeping Beauty on cover; prospectus for Rackham’s ‘6/- net edition’ of 'Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens'; Christmas List [1911] with F. D. Bedford’s ‘Peter and Wendy’ on cover..

Three pieces of ephemera from a golden period of English children’s book illustration. All three items printed on shiny paper, and all worn and discoloured. ONE: ‘Hodder & Stoughton’s Christmas List’, with advertisement for Edmund Dulac’s edition of A. T. Quiller-Couch’s ‘The Sleeping Beauty’ on cover. 20pp, folio. With rusting staples. Folded once. Undated, but containing items published in 1910, apart from the cover item, which appears to have been published in 1912. It is described here as ‘The Gift Book of the Year’, ‘For Lovers of the Beautiful in Art and in Book-making’: ‘Edition de Luxe. All subscribed. Cloth edition 15/- net’. On the second page (the reverse of the cover leaf) is a full-page advertisement for Rackham’s ‘Peter Pan Portfolio’. The fourth page of the list carries an almost-full-page advertisement for Rackham’s illustrated edition of J. M. Barrie’s ‘Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens’ (‘The most famous Gift-Book of Modern Times’). A large number of other titles are advertised, including an edition of Dickens illustrated in a bookcase, and ‘Art Calendars’ shown hangin` g on a wall. The advertisements continue to the nineteenth page, and the twentieth (the back cover) carries an order form. TWO: Handbill prospectus for ‘the new 6/- net edition’ of J. M. Barrie’s ‘Peter Pan in Kensington Gardens’, illustrated by Rackham. (This is the same edition as advertised on the fourth page of Item One, and hence must date from 1910.) 4pp, 12mo. On bifolium. Illustration of book in dustwrapper on cover, with basic information. The central pages contain laudatory text, and the back cover carries an order form. THREE: ‘Hodder & Stoughton’s Christmas List’, with full-page advertisement for the fifth edition of F. D. Bedford’s edition of ‘Peter and Wendy by J. M. Barry’. 32pp, foolscap 8vo. Printed in the same pea-green as Item One. Also with rusted staples, and folded once. Undated, but advertising works largely published in 1911. (T. H. Darlow’s edition of ‘The Letters of George Borrow to the British and Foreign Bible Society’ is described as ‘A literary event.’) Ten versos are filled with a total of forty illustrations (four to each page), either of scenes from books or of portraits of authors. In addition the back cover illustrates four dustwrappers (works by Harold Begbie, Evelyn Tempest, ‘Andrul’ and R. Austin Freeman. See Image.