Description
A scarce complete set of six fairy tale books published by Reilly & Lee 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 base and lid of the ORIGINAL STEAMER TRUNK that was issued to enclose and showcase the set. Very cute, imprinted with Christmas-related travel decals. This is really a fabulous set for the 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. Note that Bibliographia Baumiana confirms that Reilly & Lee still was issuing the books with the steamer trunk option in the 1920s.
The six books are all in near fine condition! Inside, the books look basically unread with no writing or tears and tight bindings. The pages are beautiful and very clean, with no marks, tears or odor. The trunk base is good, complete and with some wear but still intact. The lid is missing 2 of the 4 sides with one side barely hanging on, but rarely present at all in these sets. I do know of one restorer who has worked on this trunk in the past that I could refer you too if you’d like to get the lid sides completed.
