Skip to content

The Water-Babies: A Fairy Tale for a Land-Baby

The Water-Babies: A Fairy Tale for a Land-Baby

Click for full-size.

The Water-Babies: A Fairy Tale for a Land-Baby

by Kingsley, Charles

  • Used
  • good
  • first
Condition
Good
Seller
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Portland, Oregon, United States
Item Price
NZ$8,472.50
Or just NZ$8,438.61 with a
Bibliophiles Club Membership
FREE Shipping to USA Standard delivery: 7 to 14 days
More Shipping Options

Payment Methods Accepted

  • Visa
  • Mastercard
  • American Express
  • Discover
  • PayPal

About This Item

London & Cambridge: Macmillan & Co, 1863. First Edition. Good. First edition, first printing. First issue with "L'Envoy" leaf present. Bound in publisher's original dark blue cloth stamped in gilt, brown coated endsheets. Good. Cloth worn at corners and spine ends, with frayed started at the rear joint. Cloth lightly rubbed, with front cover mottled. Front and rear inner hinges are exposed, leaving binding a bit tender. Pages toned. Effaced owner inscription still evident on half-title page. Kingsley quickly withdrew the first issue with the poem L'Envoi, leaving only several hundred copies being published as such. Uncommon in the original cloth. Laid in is a a short hand-written note signed by Kingsley.

Synopsis

The Water-Babies, A Fairy Tale for a Land Baby is a children's novel by the Reverend Charles Kingsley. Written in 1862-1863 as a serial for Macmillan's Magazine, it was first published in its entirety in 1863. The book was extremely popular during its day, and was a mainstay of children's literature through the 1920s,  but eventually fell out of favor in part due to its prejudices against Irish, Jews, Catholics, blacks, Americans, and the poor. In the style of Victorian-era novels, The Water-Babies is a didactic moral fable about a young chimney sweep, Tom, who falls into a river and becomes a 'water-baby,' guided by moral teachers through lessons and adventures, eventually earning the right to become human again and being united with an upper-class girl Ellie who had also become a 'water-baby.'

Read More: Identifying first editions of The Water-Babies: A Fairy Tale for a Land-Baby

Reviews

(Log in or Create an Account first!)

You’re rating the book as a work, not the seller or the specific copy you purchased!

Details

Bookseller
Burnside Rare Books, ABAA US (US)
Bookseller's Inventory #
140937876
Title
The Water-Babies: A Fairy Tale for a Land-Baby
Author
Kingsley, Charles
Book Condition
Used - Good
Quantity Available
1
Edition
First Edition
Publisher
Macmillan & Co
Place of Publication
London & Cambridge
Date Published
1863

Terms of Sale

Burnside Rare Books, ABAA

30 day return guarantee, with full refund including shipping costs for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives misdescribed or damaged.

About the Seller

Burnside Rare Books, ABAA

Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Biblio member since 2010
Portland, Oregon

About Burnside Rare Books, ABAA

Burnside Rare Books specializes in literary first editions and works of cultural and historic significance. We are located in Portland, Oregon and welcome visitors by appointment.

Glossary

Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:

First Edition
In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...
Spine
The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
Gilt
The decorative application of gold or gold coloring to a portion of a book on the spine, edges of the text block, or an inlay in...
Cloth
"Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...

Frequently asked questions

This Book’s Categories

tracking-