GREENAWAY, Kate

Almanacks for 1883[-1895] [And:] Kate Greenaway’s Almanack & Diary for 1897 [And:] Almanacks for 1924-1929

London: George Routledge and Sons, 1883. Item #06650

“The Complete Kate Greenaway Almanacks - From the Victorian Series to the 1920s Revival”

GREENAWAY, Kate. Almanack for 1883-[1895]. London: George Routledge and Sons, [1882-1894]. [Together with:] Kate Greenaway’s Almanack & Diary for 1897. London: J.M Dent & Co., [1896].

A complete set of first edition Kate Greenaway Almanacks including all the ones published after 1897.

Together twenty volumes, including a duplicate of the Almanack for 1884: thirteen twentyfourmo volumes (the Almanack for 1887 being oblong twentyfourmo), measuring approximately 3 7/8 x 2 13/16 inches; 99 x 71 mm. and two twelvemo volumes (both copies of the Almanack for 1884), measuring approximately 5 3/16 x 3 5/8 inches; 132 x 92 mm. No Almanack for 1896 was published. Numerous wood-engraved text illustrations after Greenaway printed in color by Edmund Evans. Together with all six of the Almanacks published in 1924, 1925, 1926, 1927, 1928 & 1929.

Original bindings of glazed pictorial boards with cloth spines (1883, 1885, 1887, 1888, 1889, 1890, 1891, 1893, 1894, and 1895), glazed pictorial wrappers (1884), imitation morocco boards (1886, & 1892), and imitation morocco (1897). The duplicate copy of the Almanack for 1884 is in a variant binding of green embossed wrappers. The Almanacks for 1886, 1888 & 1892 are in the original printed mailing wrappers.

Housed together in a fleece-lined, quarter brown morocco over tan cloth boards clamshell case, spine with five raised bands, decoratively tooled in compartments, green morocco spine label lettered in gilt. A fine and complete set of these charming little books.

The later almanacks, issued annually between 1924 and 1929, represent a revival series published more than two decades after Kate Greenaway’s death, drawing upon her original designs and blocks to reintroduce her work to a new generation. Produced under the continued influence of her longtime collaborator and printer Edmund Evans’s legacy, these charming small-format volumes faithfully preserve the distinctive qualities that made the earlier almanacks so beloved: delicately colored wood-engraved illustrations, nostalgic depictions of childhood, and an idealized vision of rural English life. While later in date, they form an important and often overlooked extension of the series, and are increasingly difficult to assemble in complete runs. Their inclusion here significantly enhances the set, offering a comprehensive representation of the Greenaway almanack tradition from its Victorian origins through its 20th-century revival.

A rare opportunity to acquire the complete Greenaway almanack tradition, extending from its celebrated Victorian origins through the scarce and often overlooked 1920s revival series—seldom encountered together in a single, coherent run.

“The beginning of 1883 had seen the publication of Kate Greenaway’s first Almanack. Published at one shilling by George Routledge & Sons, and of course engraved and printed in colours by Mr. Edmund Evans, it achieved an enormous success, some 90,000 copies being sold in England, America, France, and Germany. It was succeeded by an almanack every year (with but one exception, 1896) until 1897, the last being published by Mr. Dent. The illustrations were printed on sheets with blank spaces for the letterpress, in which English, French, or German was inserted as the market demanded. There are various little conceits about these charming productions which are calculated to appeal to the ‘licquorish chapman of such wares’; so that complete sets of them already fetch respectable sums from the collectors of beautiful books, especially when they have not been divested of the paper envelopes or wrappers in which they were originally issued” (Spielmann and Layard (1905), p. 122).

Schuster & Engen 3-16. Thomson 47-67.

Price: $7,500.00