The Wind in the Willows. Illustrated by Ernest H. Shepard
London, Methuen Children's Books, 1971 [first thus]/ 1908.
Large octavo, [ii] (certificate of limitation), 262 pages with numerous colour illustrations plus colour maps on the endpapers.
Full green morocco lettered in gilt and decorated in blind in compartments on the spine, with a line illustration in gilt on the front cover; all edges gilt; spine a little tanned, sides very lightly mottled; some sections at the rear of the book slightly proud of the leading edge (but the stitching is not loose), with minimal foxing visible where the gilt has flaked a little; overall an excellent copy in the original pictorial slipcase with trifling surface loss to the printed spine, and slight loss of paper (to silverfish) on the turned-in sections at the opening of the slipcase.
Number 54 of only 250 copies of this deluxe edition, signed by the artist. Ernest Howard Shepard (1879-1976) was 92 at the time, making this signed limited edition desirable in its own right, but remarkably, he had only recently rendered all the original illustrations in colour, and they are published here for the first time.
Item #118516
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