THE WATER - BABIES; By Charles Kingsley / Illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith

New York: Dodd, Mead & Company, 1916. First Edition Thus Illustrated. Pictorial cloth. Near Fine. JESSIE WILLCOX SMITH. Quarto (10 1/4" x 8" x 1 7/8"), green cloth with gold lettering on spine & front cover with circular color lithograph pastedown of water babies playing in the surf by Jessie Willcox Smith, who has illustrated the volume with a colored frontispiece,11 full-page color glossy plates, & in-text black-&-green sketches as headpieces, tailpieces & frequent marginalia; archival mylar added to protect cloth, pictorial endpapers with water-babies riding fish by Smith, 262 pages. Weight: 3 lbs. 11 oz. Overall NEAR FINE CONDITION internally & externally of this marvellous, enduring classic here illustrated by Jessie Willcox Smith. Solid copy with some moderate cover and edgewear. Bright glossy color plates: all present. A 1/4" spot in lower border edge of plate facing p.344, & a light finger smudge in margin of plate facing p.290. A few light finger smudges here and there in page margins. No entries by previous owners. Mylar added for protection.<br /> <br /> Jessie Willcox Smith (1863 - 1935) was an important American illustrator during the Golden Age of American illustration. She is considered "one of the greatest pure illustrators" of classics (often those associated with children).<br /> <br /> Rev. Charles Kingsley (1819-75) was a Broad-church Evangelical, historian, & professor-turned-novelist best known for The Water Babies, a fantasy novel (serialized in 1862; published in 1863). It follows a young chimney sweep named Tom and his adventures with fairies.