DOYLE, Richard (illustrator). Anthony R. MONTALBA (translator). The Richard Doyle Fairy Book, consisting of Twenty-Nine Fairy Tales translated from various languages. London Dean & Son. 1890

Thick 8vo. Original red cloth lettered gilt to spine, with gilt vignette to upper cover, top edges olivine, floral endpapers; with 30 full-page engraved illustrations, banners, tailpieces and a pictorial title, a couple of text vignettes, and delightfully intricate full-page pictorial chapter introductions by Richard Doyle (with an Introduction woodcut by Alfred Crowquill); an unusually good copy of a scarce book, which usually appears in very worn condition, here with only mild fading and some dimpling to spine, light overall external dust-soiling, bruising to spine ends with a 3mm nick to head, and a tiny knock to lower forecorners, internally very good, clean, and sound with, unusually, firm inner hinges, and only occasional light foxing.

First edition thus: the revised and expanded edition of “Fairy Tales From All Nations” (Chapman & Hall, 1848), which had 12 full-page engraved plates and 12 additional smaller vignettes by Doyle. This edition with extra artwork, a 19-page “Memoir of Richard Doyle” by F.G.G., and a new Introduction by a member of the Folk Lore Society.

A fascinating collection of traditional fairy tales gathered from a range of countries and continents including France, Sweden, Russia, Hungary, Iceland, Norway, Upper Lusitania, Africa and Arabia, in languages as diverse as Hebrew and Sanskrit, and deriving from cultures such as the Wendian and the Frieslandic.