Farmer Giles of Ham. Aegidii Ahenobarbi Julii Agricole de Hammo, Domini de Domito, Aule Draconarie Comitis, Regni Minimi Regis et Basilei, mira facinora et mirabilis exortus, or in the vulgar tongue, The Rise and Wonderful Adventures of Farmer Giles, Lord of Tame, Count of Worminghall and King of the Little Kingdom by TOLKIEN, J.R.R. (1892-1973), [BAYNES, Pauline, illustrator]

London: George Allen & Unwin, 1972. [Children's Illustrated] VINTAGE COPY, the ninth printing in the same format as the first. Octavo (20 x 14cm), pp.79 [1]. With two dichromatic plates, including a frontispiece, and numerous in-text wood engravings by Baynes. Publisher's cream cloth with blue titles to spine, a blue illustration of Chrysophylax to upper, and dragon-patterned endpapers. With the dust-jacket also illustrated by Baynes, priced at £1.25. A lovely crisp, clean copy, with some spotting to top edge, toning to jacket spine, and one small closed tear to the front panel. Near fine. Perhaps the most delightful of all Tolkien's stories, this short fairy tale set in the pre-Arthurian mists of post-Roman Britain, sets the plucky farmer Giles against an ancient dragon whom the King's knights dare not approach.