Story of the Treasure Seekers, The
London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1899. Item #06268
The First Bastable Adventure
NESBIT, Edith. The Story of the Treasure Seekers. Being the adventures of the Bastable children in search of a fortune. With illustrations by Gordon Browne and Lewis Baumer. London: T. Fisher Unwin, 1899.
First edition. Octavo (7 3/4 x 5 1/4 inches; 197 x 133 mm.). xii, 296, [2] pp. [Publishers advertisements 10 pp.]. Photogravure frontispiece and sixteen plates.
Publisher's dark blue cloth, front cover and spine pictorially decorated and lettered in gilt, white endpapers, all edges gilt. Minimal wear to spine extremities, binding slightly cocked, otherwise a near fine copy.
The Story of the Treasure Seekers (1899) is Edith Nesbit’s groundbreaking first novel for children and the debut of the Bastable family. Narrated in the spirited voice of young Oswald Bastable, the book follows six siblings- Dora, Oswald, Dicky, Alice, Noel, and Horace Octavius (H.O.) - as they devise a series of bold and often comically misguided schemes to “restore the fallen fortunes of the House of Bastable.” Their adventures range from digging for buried treasure to trying their hands at journalism, medicine, and even detective work.
Blending humor, mischief, and genuine affection, Nesbit presents children as active, resourceful, and fallibly human—rather than idealized moral paragons. The book was an immediate success and marked a turning point in children’s literature, paving the way for modern adventure stories and directly influencing authors from C. S. Lewis to J. K. Rowling.
Price: $450.00