Walter Hawes; Reginald Michell — Two Waifs in Cloud-Land

London; Felling-on-Tyne, The Walter Scott Publishing Co. 1910. First edition. Cloth. The scarce first edition of Hawes"s richly illustrated cloud-land fantasy, a charming children"s adventure told in prose and verse. In the publisher"s original blue pictorial cloth binding.  First edition. A notably scarce copy of this work.   Illustrated with a half-title, a frontispiece, and in-text illustrations throughout. Collated, complete.  A whimsical children"s fantasy following Phil and Lily, two young waifs transported into the realms of Cumulus and Nimbus. Their adventures take them through Air Castle, the Thunder Kingdom and Dew-Drop Valley, where they encounter curious personifications of the weather, including the Rain Man, Snow Man, Mist Maidens, Wind Brothers, the Mackerel Minder and other fantastic inhabitants.  The work includes incidental verses by Reginald Michell, incorporated throughout the narrative as songs and comic interludes.  Little is recorded of Walter Hawes beyond his work as a writer and illustrator. He had previously illustrated a 1908 edition of Lewis Carroll"s Alice"s Adventures in Wonderland.   With two pages of publisher"s advertisements to the rear. In the publisher's original pictorial cloth binding. Externally, smart. Minor rubbing and bumping to extremities. Slight fading to spine. Light rubbing and soiling to boards. Slight offsetting to endpapers. Bookplate of one Simon Brett to front paste down. Internally, firmly bound. Pages generally bright and clean, if slightly age toned with one or two spots and handling marks to fore edge. Hinges slightly strained in places, but holding firm. Very Good Indeed . Ill.: Walter Hawes. Very Good Indeed .