FIFTEEN OLD NURSERY RHYMES. With New Linocuts.

First edition. Limited edition. Presentation copy, signed and inscribed by the artist. Publisher's original quarter beige and red cloth, with titles and borders printed in black on a cream paper label pasted on upper board. Printed on hand-made paper, with deckled edges. Illustrated title page and fifteen striking hand-coloured linocuts by Biddy Darlow. A very good copy, the binding square and firm, with a little bumping and rubbing to the extremities, the cloth spine somewhat toned and a little marked. The contents, toned to the text block edges, and with mild offsetting to the colophon from the final coloured linocut (XV), are otherwise clean throughout.

Issued in an edition of 150 un-numbered copies, by David Bland and Vivian Ridler at The Perpetua Press (both would go on to have eminent careers in post war publishing, Bland as the illustrations editor for Faber and Faber, and Ridler as Printer to the University of Oxford at Oxford University Press). This example is inscribed by the artist in black ink on the front endpaper "To Jack, with love from Biddy / to wish his mummy happy / returns of to-day. March 24th 1936". Scarce thus. Biddy Darlow (1910-1991) was educated at Hereford High School for girls, and from there at the Royal College of Art. She subsequently taught in various colleges and art schools in the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s, including the Ruskin School of Art in Oxford, and the Bath Academy of Art in Corsham. Her main artistic output was in printmaking: linocuts, woodcuts and lithography, with which she has illustrated a number of books. This beautifully illustrated collection of beloved children's nursery rhymes includes 'Three Wise Men of Gotham', 'There Was an Old Woman', 'I Had a Little Nut Tree', 'Robin and Richard', 'Hot Cross Buns', 'The Man in the Moon', 'The Man in the Wilderness', 'Simple Simon', 'Cock-A-Doodle-Doo', and 'Giant Grim'. It was chosen by the First Edition Club as one of the "50 Best Books of the Year".