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FAIRYLAND OF IDA RENTOUL OUTHWAITE1929 Authorized American EditionFirst American Trade EditionOriginal Illustrated Dust Jacket19 Color Plates & 32 Black-and-White Plates
OUTHWAITE, Ida Rentoul. Fairyland of Ida Rentoul Outhwaite. Verses by Annie R. Rentoul; stories by Grenbry Outhwaite and Annie R. Rentoul. New York: Frederick A. Stokes Company, 1929.
Large quarto. Original red cloth with gilt lettering and mounted color illustration to front board, preserved in the scarce original pictorial dust jacket.
A particularly appealing copy of one of the great illustrated fairy books of the early twentieth century, notable for retaining its original dust jacket.
The 1929 Stokes edition is identified on the copyright page as the Authorized American Edition. It was the first American trade edition and preceded the London trade edition. The work had originally appeared in Melbourne in 1926 in a deluxe limited edition.
Illustrations
The volume is lavishly illustrated throughout with Ida Rentoul Outhwaite’s celebrated fairy imagery, including 19 full-page color illustrations and 32 full-page black-and-white illustrations, together with numerous additional decorations. A contemporary-bookseller description of this edition confirms this plate count.
Outhwaite’s fantastic compositions combine fairies, woodland creatures, flowers, moonlit landscapes, and Australian wildlife with an unusually refined Art Nouveau-influenced sensibility. Among the striking plates present here are:
The Butterfly Ferry, Serana’s Wedding, The Lost Playmate, and the wonderfully elaborate black-and-white A Tennis Tournament.
The decorative fairy endpapers are also present.
Binding
Original red cloth with:
- gilt FAIRYLAND title to upper board
- gilt IDA RENTOUL OUTHWAITE lettering
- mounted color fairy illustration to front cover
- gilt spine decoration and lettering
The binding remains attractive, with only modest signs of age and use visible in the photographs.
Scarce Original Dust Jacket
Most surviving copies of the 1929 Stokes edition appear without their dust jackets. This copy retains the striking original jacket reproducing Outhwaite’s fairy artwork on the front panel, with blue lettering and a fairy figure decorating the spine.
The jacket is worn and extensively repaired with old clear tape, including long horizontal tape reinforcement along the upper and lower portions, additional tape at the corners and spine ends, tears, creasing, small losses, discoloration and general handling wear. There is a more noticeable loss at the lower front-left corner exposing part of the red cloth beneath.
Despite these faults, the jacket is substantially present and remains visually impressive. Given the scarcity of the original jacket, its survival is a significant feature of this copy. A current specialist description likewise characterizes the jacket for the 1929 edition as scarce.
Condition
Book: Very Good overall.
Red cloth remains bright and attractive, with gilt lettering and front cover illustration well preserved. Binding appears sound. Interior generally clean and remarkably fresh for a nearly century-old illustrated children’s book, with mild age toning and occasional minor marks.
There is a neat 1932 Christmas gift inscription on a preliminary leaf.
Illustrations remain bright and richly colored.
Decorative endpapers intact.
Dust Jacket: Fair, but substantially complete. Numerous old clear-tape repairs and reinforcements, edge tears and creases, small losses, rubbing, soiling and age toning, as clearly shown in the photographs. The jacket has nevertheless done an excellent job of preserving the red cloth beneath.
Please examine all photographs closely, as they form an important part of the condition description.
Bibliographical Note
The first edition of Fairyland appeared in Melbourne in 1926 as an expensive limited edition. The Frederick A. Stokes edition followed in New York in 1929 and was the first American trade edition; the London edition did not appear until 1931.
The 1929 American edition is especially interesting because it includes material not found in the later London edition, including additional stories and plates.
A beautiful and increasingly difficult-to-find example of Outhwaite’s masterpiece, especially desirable with its original illustrated dust jacket still present.
