GRIMM, The Bros. (co-authors). Noel POCOCK (illustrator). Grimm’s Fairy Tales. London; Humphrey Milford Oxford University Press. 1933

Royal 8vo.; original white cloth pictorially blocked in gilt to spine and upper cover, top edges gilt, others untrimmed, teal blue endpapers; pp. [iv], v-viii + 346; with pictorial initials, decorated title in teal blue and black, coloured frontispiece, and 22 additional mounted plates in colour set on grey panels by Noel Pocock; an uncommonly fresh and bright copy, externally extremely clean, internally crisp and unmarked, with fine plates, and just a little spotting to uncut edges of book block; with a contemporary gift inscription dated 1937 to half-title.

New edition illustrated by Pocock, presented in the handsome de luxe binding in white and gilt.  First published with these illustrations in 1913 by Henry Frowde.  Contains 55 stories including the classics, Ashputtel (Cinderella), Hansel and Grethel, Rumple-stilts-kin, The Elves and the Shoemaker, and Tom Thumb together with lesser known ones such as The Young Giant and the Tailor and The Crows and the Soldier.

Ralph Noël Pocock (1878-1949) was a versatile cartoonist, illustrator and graphic designer who began his commercial career in book illustration with artwork for P.G. Wodehouse’s first two novels, The Pothunter (1902) and The Prefect’s Uncle (1903).  He is best-known though for his critically acclaimed work here on Grimm’s Fairy Tales, reflecting the influence of Maxfield Parrish, with dramatic lighting, atmospheric settings, and the use of rich jewel-colours, while accentuating the emotional intensity of the folkloric stories.