Nursery Rhymes by STEPHENS, HENRY L

New York: Julius Bien Lithographer for Hurd and Houghton Complete set of six limited proof copies of an American children's book. Each one of 100 Proof Impressions printed for subscribers in the rare original deluxe issue. (Later printed in a two volume compilation and in wrappers.) Folio, publisher's brown cloth with charming gilt circular vignettes on front and back covers. All edges gilt. Wear to spine tips and corners of some volumes; age-toning and occasional foxing, heaviest on tissue guards. In all, an excellent set and rare to find complete. Lithographed title pages with large circular illustrations and decorative gilt borders. Printed on rectos only with verses lettered in gilt and full page gray-tinted mounted lithographs on heavy card with tissue guards. Anthropomorphic animals in contemporary dress. The tales are presented in the costumes and settings of their times by H.L.Stephens, a prolific caricaturist and satirist. A Frog He Would a Wooing Go, Death and Burial of Poor Cock Robin; Old Mother Hubbard, The Fox and the Geese, Five Little Pigs, and The House That Jack Built. In The House That Jack Built, the rat is a NY rowdy, the dog is a Broadway policeman, and the man "all tattered and torn" hails from the Bowery or Five Points. Reference: Sinclair Hamilton, Early American Book Illustrators and Wood Engravers, lists only one Proof Copy of the Nursery Rhymes (Cock Robin). Published 1864-1865. Cloth with Gilt Vignettes. Fine. Illus. by H. L. Stephens. Folio.