Mother Goose: The Old Nursery Rhymes Illustrated by Arthur Rackham

New York: The Century Co., 1913. Stated at copyright: Published, October 1913; title page also dated 1913. Black full-cloth boards, mounted pictorial plate, some shelf, corner, wear, rub. Cover features mounted plate of Mother Goose in top hat flying in on her trusty bird to children in awe below. Pages generally good, some w/moderate discoloration, closed and open tears. Endpapers removed. Silhouette decorated title page of children in ring, around the rosy tree, w/detailed states of other children at play in four corners of border. Frontispiece color plate and captioned tissue guard features humorously haunting imagery: "". One dozen darkly charming color plates and captioned tissue guards. Also, many full-page b&w plates and partial page imagery, decoration, and vignettes throughout. Here is Arthur Rackham at his most charming and, slightly macabre, best. From Rackham foreword: There are many more Nursery Rhymes than included in this book, though I think most of the best known are here. I have chosen those I knew and liked best in my own nursery days, and have kept to versions I was familiar with. Nursery rhymes have until recently been handed on by oral tradition with inevitable variations and most we knew came from our elders. However altered, children do not seem to be confused by them and make their own choice and go on inventing variations. 260 pages. Insured post.. First Edition. Hard Cover. Fair. Illus. by Rackham, Arthur. 8vo - over 7¾ - 9¾" Tall.