[RHYS, ERNEST (editor)]. Fairy-Gold: A Book of Old English Fairy Tales. Illustrated by Herbert Cole. London: J.M. Dent & Co., 1911.
REPRINT. Cloth-bound, hardcover, octavo (19.5 x 14.5 x 4 cm.), pp. xvi, 474. English text, with 12 colour plates and 72 black & white illustrations by Herbert Cole. Bound in publisher's original pictorial cloth gilt, top page edges gilt, illustrated endpapers. Condition: VERY GOOD. Binding tight, secure, and square. Covers very well-preserved. Interior with some light brown spots mostly confined to endpapers and fore edge. Without previous ownership markings. Scarce thus.
Notes: The first reprint of Fairy Gold: A Book of Old English Fairy Tales, a wonderful compilation by Ernest Rhys (1859 – 1946) and illustrated by Herbert Cole (1867 – 1930). Rhys was a writer and editor – best known for his role as founder of the ‘Everyman’s Library’, a series of affordable classics. Rhys was particularly passionate about English folkloric tradition, and making such works of literature more accessible. Fairy Gold contains a set of 84 wonderful illustrations by Herbert Cole, and includes 69 tales such as ‘The Three Bears’, ‘Tom Thumb’, ‘Jack and the Beanstalk’ and ‘The Mermaid’ as well as other, near-forgotten English stories such as ‘The Fairy Fair’, ‘Mr and Mrs Vinegar’, ‘The King and the Vipers’ and ‘Queen Mab’s Good Grace'.
