Description
A scarce complete set of six fairy tale books published by Reilly & Britton circa 1910 and with introductions by L. Frank Baum of Wizard of Oz fame. Includes the highly desirable Little Black Sambo, The Night Before Christmas, Story of Peter Rabbit, Fairy Tales From Grimm, Fairy Tales From Andersen and Cinderella & Sleeping Beauty. Peter Rabbit is notable as being the only one of the Christmas Stocking series books illustrated by John R. Neill, who also illustrated most of the Oz books. Now, what makes this set REALLY special is that it includes the main body of the ORIGINAL STEAMER TRUNK that was issued to enclose and showcase the set (in rough condition, missing the lid). Very cute, imprinted with Christmas-related travel decals. This is really a fabulous set for the very serious collector. These tiny books are only 3″ by 4″ and contain about 124 pages, plus ads at the back for Oz and related books. Red decorated covers with color pastedown illustrations.
The books are all in very good to near fine condition! Covers have a little rubbing to the paper edges as shown. Spines are in very good condition with intact lettering and just a little rubbing of the paper at the ends. Inside, the books look basically unread. The pages are beautiful and very clean, with no marks, tears or odor. Original Kansas City department store seal inside cover. The only damage I can find is some splitting to the title page gutter of Cinderella and Sleeping Beauty, and Night Before Christmas has a little paper loss at head of spine. I do not think you will be disappointed by the condition of these fabulous books!
The steamer trunk is missing the lid and is very worn, with one graphical side missing, the bottom present but partially detached, and one edge taped. Doesn’t really hold together on its own, and worthy of restoration. Still extremely scarce, and I know of one restorer who has created a new lid in the past that I could refer you too.
