The Quoks. - 1924

1924. New York; Frederick A. Stokes Company. 1924. 4to. Original red cloth with large onlaid pictorial plate to upper board, pictorial alphabet endpapers; pp. [iv], 5-62 + [ii]; with 6 fine, and glorious, detailed coloured plates and a plethora of black-and-white images and decorations throughout; a near fine copy, both internally and externally, with a small bruise to top fore-corner of upper board and a small, and neat, gift inscription, dated 1931, to half-title. First U.S. edition. An extravagant fantasy, wonderfully produced: "Now you shall hear about the funny little Quoks and Uncle Billy and Bumpy who lived on Cookie Island and Daddy Spider and John Beetle and his son and the big Whale and the wonderful Quok bird and what happened to them all" (Preface). John Penry Hyde "Luxor" Price (1874-1950) was an American illustrator of only about half a dozen books who was born in Cardiff, Wales. Emigrating in 1893 he became personal secretary to James Gregory McLoughlin who was a railway official and heir to the McLoughlin publishing empire. Price was self-taught and specialised in fantasy maps. His first published work, "All Mother Goose Panorama", was very well received and he went on to create "Quoks", a book of funny little people, to entertain his son.