Septimus Serpentine and Other Verses. Words by Joanna E. Giles. Pictures by Audrey Teago
London, H.F.W. Deane and Sons, 1919.
Quarto, [32] pages (including the illustrated pastedowns) with 12 large illustrations and 14 vignettes plus a colour frontispiece (the pagination and binding are definitely not standard practice).
Colour-pictorial light green cloth lettered and ruled in black; cloth slightly marked, with the rear cover a little unevenly sunned; first and last pages offset; minimal signs of use and age; short contemporary inscription on the first page ('N.G.B. | Christmas 1920'); overall, an excellent copy of a very rare Australian children's book.
Adelaide-born Joanna Giles (1893-1952) appears to have published only two works, the only other one being 'Alliterations, Rhymes & Sketches [For the French Red Cross]' (Melbourne, Atlas Press, circa 1917). She moved permanently to England in the late 1910s. In over 45 years in Adelaide, we have handled only two copies of 'Alliterations', and this is the first time we have had "Septimus Serpentine'. Audrey Teago (1889-1974) was active in England as a book illustrator over a long period of time, and this early work of hers has a lot to recommend it. Muir 2803 (citing only the copy in her collection, now in the National Library of Australia - and it is the only copy in Trove).
Item #130455
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