Antique Princess Marys Gift Book 1914 WWI Military Charity JM Barrie Arthur Rackham

$85.00

Brand Etsy

This is a book titled Princess Marys Gift Book published in 1914 by Hodder & Stoughton. The proceeds from the book supported Queen Marys Work for Women fund, which subsidized women who were out of work due to World War 1. Princess Mary was Queen Marys daughter and had been involved in the issuance of a Christmas present in the form of a brass tin containing cigarettes, tobacco and chocolate to every man serving in the war.
This book contains twenty short stories by popular authors of the day - J.M. Barrie (best known for Peter Pan), A Conan Doyle (best known for Sherlock Holmes) Rudyard Kipling (best known for The Jungle Book) H Rider Haggard (She) and Baroness Orczy (The Scarlet Pimpernel). There are also a number of black line drawings and fourteen tipped in full colour reproductions of paintings by well-known illustrators and painters, including Arthur Rackham. The book has a printed hardcover and consists of 140 pages plus a printed tipped in letter of thanks to the authors and artists from Princess Mary (this is loose). It is in very good condition with the exception of rub to the print on the title on the front cover along with a bit of line pencil (erasable), some minor cover soiling, a couple of interior marks on the title page, again minor, and slight bowing to the cover. Otherwise, a very nice example with a clean interior, worth the price for the tipped-in colour reproductions alone.
As an aside, this book was used in the Cottingley Fairies Photograph scam - too complicated to explain here, but if youre interested, worth reading about.
This is a wonderful WWI era collectible childrens book!