ALADDIN AND HIS WONDERFUL LAMP IN RHYME

First trade edition. Signed presentation copy from the Anglo-Irish writer Lord Dunsany. Publisher's original greyish brown cloth, with titles in red and illustrations in blue and red to the upper board and spine. Top edge gilt. Illustrated endpapers and half title. Twelve colour plates with captioned tissue guards, mounted on thick black paper, and illustrations and decorative borders in black to every text page by Thomas Mackenzie. A very good copy, the binding square and firm with some bumping to the spine tips and corners, the cloth a little toned and with a few red marks to the upper and lower boards. The contents, with the gift inscription of Lord Dunsany on the front free endpaper (which has a short closed tear to the lower margin), and some light spotting to the prelims and page edges, are otherwise clean throughout. All of the colour plates and tissue guards are present as called for and in fine condition. An attractive example with an interesting provenance.

Inscribed by the prolific writer and celebrated author of fantasy fiction Lord Dunsany in black ink on the front free endpaper "To Bice Savile / wishing her a happy / Christmas. 1920 / Dunsany". The recipient is Beatrice Anne Savile, later Lady Beatrice Anne Scrope (Daughter of John Henry Savile, 6th Earl of Mexborough and Margaret Eva, Countess of Mexborough). Thomas Blakeley Mackenzie (1888–1944) was one of the final prominent illustrators associated with the late golden age of illustrated gift books. His work demonstrates stylistic affinities with Aubrey Beardsley, Edmund Dulac, Kay Nielsen, and Harry Clarke. Commissioned in 1915 to illustrate Arthur Ransome's 'Aladdin', the project was delayed by wartime conditions and by Mackenzie's active military service in Serbia. Publication was postponed until 1919, following further revisions to the text by Ransome and the completion of Mackenzie's illustrations. The work was issued by Nisbet in both deluxe and trade editions. A contemporary review in the Times Literary Supplement praised the illustrations, noting: "The Princess is properly lovely, the genies properly terrible, and Aladdin at once gallant and a little wistful". (Hammond A19a; Times Literary Supplement, 11 December 1919).