The Yellow Fairy Book.

London: Longmans, Green, and Co.,, 1894. First edition. This fourth instalment in the Fairy Books series includes such well-known stories as Hans Christian Andersen's "The Emperor's New Clothes" and "Thumbelina". Lang defends his practice of intermixing older legends with newer tales in the preface, which responds to criticisms made by the president of the Folklore Society. Henry Justice Ford's (1860-1941) artwork for the series "provided a benchmark in fantasy illustration" (Grolier). Though the Fairy Books are credited to Andrew Lang (1844-1912), he acknowledged in the preface to Lilac (1910) that they "have been almost wholly the work of Mrs [Leonora] Lang, who has translated and adapted them from the French, German, Portuguese, Italian, Spanish, Catalan, and other languages". Octavo. Original yellow cloth, spine lettered and stamped with cat motif in gilt, front cover elaborately blocked in gilt with a tall fairy figure in a sunlit forest setting, black coated endpapers, edges gilt. Frontispiece with tissue guard, 21 engraved plates, further engravings in the text in text, all by H. J. Ford. Publisher's 2-page ads bound at end. Bookseller's ticket of Matthews and Brooke, Bradford, on front pastedown. Spine cocked, spot of wear to rear joint and lower corners, binding slightly rubbed and toned, occasional faint tide marks and foxing to contents. A very good copy. Grolier Children's 100, 51.