Marigold Garden

"Oh, I'll stay in the Country, and make a Daisy Chain
And never go back to London again"
Kate Greenaway's "Marigold Garden,"
Together with one of the Original Wood Printing Blocks

GREENAWAY, Kate. Marigold Garden. Pictures and Rhymes by Kate Greenaway. Printed in Colours by Edmund Evans. London: George Routledge and Sons, [n.d., 1885].

First edition, first issue, with the front and rear covers having the same illustration. Quarto (10 3/4 x 8 7/8 inches; 273 x 226 mm.). 60 pp. Over fifty colored illustrations, many of which are full-page. Original green glazed pictorial boards with brown cloth backstrip. Original green coated endpapers, all edges stained yellow. Corners very slightly rubbed, otherwise fine. The Estelle Doheny copy with her oval green leather bookplate on front paste-down.

Together with the original woodblock for the illustration on p. 54 ("Miss Molly and the Little Fishes"). The woodblock measures 5 3/4 x 3 3/8 inches (147 x 85 mm.). Both items housed together in a custom made quarter tan calf over marbled boards clamshell case. Gilt decorated spine with two green morocco labels lettered in gilt.

This book contains forty-two favorite rhymes, each one illustrated in colors.

Kate Greenaway created illustrations so adorable and timeless that they capture the imagination even today, over one hundred and thirty years since she first put pen to paper. This 1885 first edition of Marigold Garden, lovingly dedicated through a little poem to all the boys and girls for whom she wrote, is a beautiful sample of Greenaway's talent and love for her work.

"You little girl,
You little boy,
With wondering eyes,
That kindly look,
In honour of
Two noble names
I send the offering
Of this book." (dedication)

Greenaway's illustrations, originally printed by woodblock printer Edmund Evans, are gorgeous. The colors are vibrant and alive, her bonneted little girls cute and curious, her scampy little boys sweet and mischievous. Because of the Victorian influence on her illustrating style, many of the boys are hard to tell apart from the girls due to the dresses and bows, as with the illustration Willy and His Sister. Throughout the book, Greenaway included many samples of flowers, in keeping with the title of the book.

Many of the poems in this collection are fun and playful, meant to be sung or said to or by children. A few, like When We Went Out With Grandmamma, have a message or lesson about behavior, etiquette, or other social items of importance. In that poem, Grandmamma states how little girls and boys "In the good days when she was young, never made any noise." She goes on to say that it seems today "That children's tongues had wheels".

Price: $0

   (To order this item, or for more information, please call 818-222-4103)