Charles Kingsley — The Water Babies

London, Hodder and Stoughton for Boots the Chemists, c1929. Cloth. Charles Kingsley's famous children's novel, The Water Babies, beautifully illustrated by Jessie Wilcox Smith. In the publisher's original pictorial cloth binding. Ink inscription to the front paste down, dated 1929. 12 colour plates tipped in and numerous illustrations in the text by Jessie Willcox Smith (1863-1935), who was considered "one of the greatest pure illustrators" during the Golden Age of American illustration. She illustrated stories and articles for clients such as Harper's and Good Housekeeping, and books such as this one and Louisa May Alcott's Little Women. Collated complete. The Water-Babies, A Fairy Tale for a Land Baby is a children's novel by Charles Kingsley (1819-1875). Written in 1862–63 as a serial for Macmillan's Magazine, it was first published in its entirety in 1863. It was written as part satire in support of Charles Darwin's On The Origin of Species. The book was extremely popular and was considered an important part of British children's literature. In the publisher's original pictorial cloth binding. Externally very smart, with minimal wear to the extremities. Colour is good and gilt is bright. Internally, firmly bound. Pages are bright and clean with the odd handling mark, and just a little offsetting to the free end papers and a scattering of spots to the first and last couple of pages. Very Good Indeed . Ill.: Jessie Wilcox Smith. Very Good Indeed .