DE LA MARE, Walter; John NASH [Illus.] ~ Seven Short Stories.

FIRST UK PRINTING. Faber and Faber Limited, London: 1931.

Large 8vo., bright red publisher's cloth, embossed with gilt device to upper board; lettered and ruled in gilt to backstrip; upper edge gilt, else untrimmed; together in the unclipped pictorial dustwrapper (15s. net) printed with text in black and red and a design by John Nash; with frontis vignette and a further 8 full-page, full-colour illustrations by Nash, as well as a final chapter vignette in black and white to p. [196]; THE BOOK a near-fine copy, lightly pushed to spine tips, with a couple of dark marks to upper edges of boards and tiny spots to prelims; THE WRAPPER also near-fine, a touch darkened along backstrip, with a couple of short closed tears to upper edge and along spine; discretely repaired internally with tape. The wrapper is protected in a removable Brodart archival cover. First UK edition, first printing. The first edition was issued alongside a very limited signed edition, bound in vellum. A collection of tales from 'The Connoisseur', 'Broomsticks' and 'The Riddle' which include 'Miss Duveen' (about a child who befriends a troubled soul), 'The Bird of Travel' (concerning a large house in the woods), 'The Tree' (about a rich fruit merchant), 'The Nap' (a comic tale about a father desperate for peace and quiet), 'Missing' (about secrets and a meeting with a stranger in a tea shop), 'The Wharf' (a young woman's dream of death) and 'Maria-Fly' (about a little girl's fascination by the little insect). The diverse stories are all wonderfully illuminated by the colourful illustrations by John Nash, founding member of the Society of Wood Engravers. Very scarce in the near-fine dustwrapper.

BINDING: Hardcover
CONDITION: Near Fine
JACKET: Near Fine