OLD FRIENDS AND NEW FACES. Robinson Crusoe; Queer Characters; Aesop's Fables; and Cock Sparrow.

London, Cassell, Petter & Galpin, 1870.. SECOND EDITION 1870, small 4to, 270 x 230 mm, 10½ x 9 inches, green cloth, gilt border to upper cover, composite gilt illustration (for the 4 stories) and gilt title to upper cover, gilt title and decoration to spine, 24 pages of colour plates printed by Kronheim, 6 per story each with a paper guard, some with several images. 6 pages of text per story, 1st and 2nd stories in verse: Robinson Crusoe, Queer Characters (animals dressed as humans), Aesop's Fables, and Cock Sparrow (How Cock Sparrow Kept Christmas). Head and tail of spine and corners slightly worn, lower cover with a few small stains and light damp fading to 1 corner, spine gilt slightly rubbed especially to ornament at head and tail, neat paper repair to front inner hinge, a few pages slightly creased, a few small closed edge tears and large closed tear to 1 guard, all repaired, 60 mm (2½") closed tear to edge of 1 colour plate, neatly repaired, virtually no loss, occasional slight fingermarks and very slight soiling. A very good sturdy copy. Queer Characters shows animals in human guise with human hands: Dobbin the Blacksmith, Tabby the Piper, Doctor Donkey's Academy, The Artful Fox (in priestly robes trapping the cocks into shutting their eyes to say grace), Towser's Trial, etc. Aesop's Fables contains 21 brief fables in large print on 6 text pages and 21 images on 6 plates, including: The Man and his Two Wives; The Lion in Love; Mercury and the Woodman; The Woman and the Wine Cask; The Blackamoor; The Trumpeter Taken Prisoner. First published in 1868. See Osborne II,1047. MORE IMAGES ATTACHED TO THIS LISTING, ALL ZOOMABLE, FURTHER IMAGES ON REQUEST. POSTAGE AT COST.