Cinderella and The Two Gifts
1886007348Asnières-sur-Seine: Boussod Valadon & Cie 1886. First Edition Thus. Full Decorated Morocco. Near Fine. Gorgeously bound with exquisite illustrations most of which are lushly hand-colored -- they could pass as fully rendered watercolors done directly onto pages. Folio 39 by 30 cm. Unpaginated with text and illustrations on rectos only with leaves of heavy card bound in with tabs. 33 illustrations aquarelles of Beaumont are replicated in the two stories. Some illustrations remain in black and white but most were hand-colored and to a high level. Crimson morocco decorated with gilt borders featuring various floreate decorations and lattice work Rococo in sensibility yet symmetrical. Silk pastedown endpapers. Note that the colophon in the back states the book was created or finished off in December 1886 but the spine gives the publication date as 1887. Both dates are surely accurate. Condition: A few small spots of soil on the morocco. Light scattered soiling and/or foxing -- overall the book still reads as clean. Small stamp in corner of front blank -- back of FFEP -- from Easton Neston Library. As this discreet stamp is the only sign of a library provenance the book has none of the negative associations people would make of ex-lib and we have priced the copy accordingly. Boussod Valadon & Cie unknown
