Item #20241 Four and Twenty Toilers. E. V. Lucas.
Four and Twenty Toilers.
Four and Twenty Toilers.
Four and Twenty Toilers.
/F. D. Bedford, illustrator.

Four and Twenty Toilers.

New York: McDevitt-Wilson's, Inc, [US edition, 1900, Baumgarten]; blue cloth with full cream titled and illustrated pasted-on plate; 55 single-sided numbered pages with illustrated prelims and 24 plates; oblong 9.5x12" Picture Book Hardback.

A companion to "The Book of Shops" this book builds on the interest young children have in the work they see going on around them. The prelims are thoughtfully illustrated in very beautiful colour: for instance the half title shows a coloured picture of a little chimney sweep headed out for the day; in the poem for this trade, an older child explains that the days of the child sweeps are over, while the other children watch work going on with the chimneys of a great house, and at the end of the book, we see the child sweep drawn in black and white, trudging home. Twenty-four single-sided spreads show the trades of the time: Shipbuilder, Cobbler, Gardener, Miller, Engine-Driver, Builder, Vet, Knife-Grinder, Farmer, Clockwinder, Woodman, Carpenter, Gamekeeper, Bird-Stuffer, The Dame, Stevedore, Bee-Farmer, Ostler, Dairyman, Chimney-Sweep, Ploughman, Blacksmith, Park-Keeper, The Old Bus Horse. Each trade has a poem dedicated to it, which is surrounded by a border. Well, what a treasure!

CONDITION: Good; "Grade 1, School 3, 1925" is written on fep but there are no library signs or in fact signs of 6 year old use; darkening cover plate has some ink blot traces, light but over the title, light rubs to extems and creases from uneven gluing, light foxing on eps, some moisture damage has occurred which can be seen in the gutter of the first few openings for about 1/4" on either side and also in the center of the back for a large area, hinges strong, tight with no splits or separations, pages and plates are all very clean and unwrinkled. Item #20241

Price: $75.00

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