A Unique Illuminated Miniature Book by Kate Greenaway

(London), 1880. 64mo. 48 pp. Fine and unique illuminated manuscript, extensively illustrated in watercolor by Kate Greenaway on 45 of the 48 pages, with each page initialed by her; with four autograph poems by Frederick Locker, created for presentation by Locker to his wife, Jane. Presentation binding of full vellum over boards, with four watercolor decorations on front board and four watercolor ornaments on rear board, also by Greenaway, titled on front board "Babies and Blossoms"; edges stained green; green endpapers; in original hand-stitched velvet pouch, and in green straight-grain morocco pull-off case, all in silk-lined red levant solander case; illustrated book-plate on inner front panel. From the collection famed book-collector Robert S. Pirie, and with his book-plate laid in; his wife's illustrated book-plate mounted to inside lid of same. See Spielman and Layard, Kate Greenaway, 1905, p. 96 (illustrated following p. 91)

Includes a typed letter from Betty Locker-Lampson, Frederick's granddaughter, explaining the book's history.

A wonderful and extremely charming illuminated miniature book, specially created by Kate Greenaway and poet Frederick Locker (1821-1895) as a birthday present for Locker's wife, Hannah Jane Lampson (1846-1915). Featuring four holographic poems by Locker, each on the subject of his children, and fully adorned with extensive watercolor and pen and ink illustrations by Greenaway decorating virtually every page.

Frederick Locker-Lampson first encountered Kate Greenaway through her printer Edward Evans, who had asked Locker to review some of Greenaway's verses she had written for her first children's book, Under the Window (1879). Locker was immediately taken by her work, and he and his wife quickly made her acquaintance and became close friends. A poet in his own right, Locker created this book as gift for Jane's 34th birthday, and whose poems within he composed on the subject of each of his children. Locker then asked Greenaway to design and illustrate a miniature keepsake album for the poems. The resulting work showcases Greenaway's distinctive depictions of children, fairies, and flowers, and features four fine portraits of each of the Locker-Lampson children: Godfrey in "A Rhyme of One"; Dorothy in "Little Dinky"; and Oliver and Maud in "The Twins". Greenaway composed the illustrations first, which required Locker to carefully add his own manuscript of his verses to the volume. As he later recalled to his wife, adding his verse into the book was "the most anxious experience of his life" and that "he was in agony all the time lest he should make a mistake or a blot" (Spielman and Layard, Kate Greenaway, p. 96).

Certainly one of Greenaway's most charming and intimate works, described by her biographers as "the most exquisite little bibelots it is possible to imagine." (p. 96).