Gypsies of the Air, A Child's Book of Birds in Picture and Rhyme.
Chicago: M. A. Donohue & Co.; (1919,1920); dark red cloth boards with pale blue full cover plate showing Mr. Owl, Old Judge Crow, and Young Sparrow sitting on a branch; poems with two line drawings on every page; 6x7.5"; 60 pp. Juvenile hardback.
The story of a community of birds, gypsies who arrive and build homes for the summer, all with distinct personalities: the Wise Owl, who makes a nice profit off the visitors, Policeman Jay, who takes his pay in grapes, the insufferable Parson Grackle, Bubbie Crow who leads an assault on a straw man: "His drum he kept beating, his gun kept repeating, His sword trailed along with a clang." All these officials are treated with gentle irony, but the poems end with the sweet love story of the robins. Witty illustrations of the birds that are not quite cartoons. Florence Notter attended and taught at the Art Institute of Chicago and at one time was also wrote a column for a Chicago newspaper.
CONDITION: Very Good Plus; no names or other marks, straight, tight, with clean cover plate, tiny rubs to bottom corner tips. Item #22653
Price: $95.00