NESBIT, Edith (author). H.R. MILLAR (illustrator). The Story of the Amulet. London T. Fisher Unwin 1906

8vo.; publisher’s finely ribbed deep red cloth elaborately and pictorially blocked in gilt to spine and upper cover and in blind to lower board, top edges gilt; pp. [viii], 9-374 + [10], publisher’s catalogue; with a total of 48 full-page plates after engravings by Millar including frontispiece with original fine tissue-guard; a bright, fresh, solid and substantial copy with a paler splash mark to lower cover (circa 1 inch) and very neat consolidatory repairs to inner hinges, just a touch shaken, and one neat ownership inscription to a front blank, internally clean and crisp throughout.

First edition of this children’s classic.  The third of three stand-alone works featuring the four siblings Cyril, Anthea, Robert and Jane which form her highly popular Psammead Trilogy, following “Five Children and It” and “The Phoenix and the Carpet”.  

A compelling blend of Edwardian realism, fantasy, time-travel and humour. The children meet up again with the Psammead, the wish-granting sand-fairy, now caged in a pet shop, and take advantage of his power to grant them one wish per day to help them find the missing part of a magical ancient amulet.  Time travel allows them to visit momentous periods in history such as Ancient Egypt under Hatshepsut, Babylon under Nebuchadnezzar, Atlantis at the time of his destruction, Julius Caesar’s invasion of Britain, and a future Utopian London (circa A.D. 8000) when children rule and science has eliminated poverty.