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"THERE was never a more amazed little boy than Cedric during the week that followed; there was never so strange or so unreal a week. In the first place, the story his mamma told him was a very curious one. He was obliged to hear it two or three times before he could understand it. He could not imagine what Mr. Hobbs would think of it. It began with earls: his grandpapa, whom he had never seen, was an earl; and his eldest uncle, if he had not been killed by a fall from his horse, would have been an earl, too, in time; and after his death, his other uncle would have been an earl, if he had not died suddenly, in Rome, of a fever. After that, his own papa, if he had lived, would have been an earl, but, since they all had died and only Cedric was left, it appeared that he was to be an earl after his grandpapa's death -- and for the present he was Lord Fauntleroy." |
| BURNETT, Frances Hodgson.
Little Lord Fauntleroy. Illustrated by Reginald Birch. New York:
Scribner, 1886. Octavo, original gilt-decorated cloth. $1450.
First edition, first issue (with DeVinne Press imprint) of Burnett's classic, with the original illustrations by Reginald Birch which helped define the style of dress for little boys throughout the late 19th and early 20th centuries. "In 1886 Burnett's most famous and successful book appeared. First serialized in St. Nicholas magazine, Little Lord Fauntleroy was intended as a children's book, but it had its greatest appeal to mothers. It established the main character's long curls (based on her son Vivian's) and velvet suit with lace collar (based on Oscar Wilde's attire) as a mother's model for small boys, who generally hated it. The book sold more than half a million copies, and Burnett's income was increased by her dramatized version, which quickly became a repertory standard on the order of Uncle Tom's Cabin. In 1888 she won a lawsuit in England over the dramatic rights to Little Lord Fauntleroy, establishing a precedent that was incorporated into British copyright law in 1911" (Britannica). Only the most minimal wear to extremely bright cloth, paper hinge on front flyleaf cracking. An exceptionally well-preserved copy; rare in this condition. |