Lady Arabella: or The Adventures of a Doll

London: Kerby and Son, [1856]. A Very Attractive 'Mid-Twenties' Inlaid Binding by Bayntun of Bath

[BAYNTUN OF BATH, binders]. PARDOE, [Julia], Miss. CRUIKSHANK, George, illustrator. Lady Arabella: or The Adventures of a Doll. Illustrated by George Cruikshank. London: Kerby and Son., [1856].

First edition. Small octavo (6 5/8 x 5 inches; 168 x 126 mm.). Half-title, Title Page, 88 pp. With four hand colored etchings by George Cruikshank.

Bound ca. 1925 by Bayntun of Bath (stamp-signed in gilt on front turn-in). Full forest green crushed levant morocco. Covers ruled and decoratively bordered in gilt, front cover with a fine scene inlaid in blind and various colored morocco, taken from the color plate facing page 62. Spine with five raised bands decoratively tooled and lettered in gilt in compartments, gilt board-edges, wide decorative gilt turn-ins, all edges gilt, green marbled paper liners and end-leaves. Minimal darkening of spine. A very fine example.

Julia Pardoe (1806-1862), was an English poet, novelist, historian and traveler. She was born at Beverley, Yorkshire, and showed an early interest in literature. She became a prolific and versatile writer, producing in addition to her lively and well-written novels many books on travel, and others dealing with historical subjects. She was a keen observer, and her travel to the East gave her an accurate and deep knowledge of the peoples and manners of the East. To modern readers she is probably best known for her books on her travels in Turkey, which are some of the earliest works by a woman on this area. In 1836 she traveled to Constantinople with her father, Major Thomas Pardoe. This voyage inspired her book The City of the Sultan (1836). Later she collaborated with the artist William Henry Bartlett to produce The Beauties of the Bosphorus (1839), an illustrated account of Constantinople. Lady Arabella; or The Adventures of a Doll would appear to have been her only children's book.

George Cruikshank (1792-1878) was a British caricaturist and book illustrator, praised as the "modern Hogarth" during his life. His book illustrations for his friend Charles Dickens, and many other authors, reached an international audience.