Marrin's Bookshop

Synopsis

Illustrated by harold jones the text specially prepared by kathleen lines. fifth impression.

Item Description

8vo. 9 x 6.25 inches. 222 pp. Bound in original green cloth, gilt, with gilt block on front board, in price clipped pictorial dust wrapper. Minor wear to extremities and light foxing of top edge; otherwise a very good copy. 1979 gift inscription on half title. Illustrated by title page, verso of dedication page, and by numerous engraved vignettes sometimes integrated into text. Green pictorial endpapers. The Water Babies by Charles Kingsley (1819-75) first appeared in book form in 1863. It is a didactic moral fable with a theme of Christian redemption. It relates the story of Tom, a young chimney sweep, who falls into a river, is transformed into a water baby and has adventures involving fairies and various marine creatures. The novel is seen as a critique of Victorian child labour and is considered to support the ideas of Darwinism. In this edition, first published in 1961, the text has been pruned by the editor, with the removal of 'long-winded digressions which hold up the story' and 'references to local controversies which can have no meaning for the present-day reader,' removed. Kathleen Mary Lines (1902-88) was a Canadian children's book expert and editor. Harold Jones (1904-92) was an artist, children's book illustrator and author, educated at Goldsmith's, Camberwell and the RCA.