The Olive Fairy Book. Lang, Andrew (Ed.).

First edition, first impression, of the 11th and penultimate instalment in the Fairy Books series. Among its 29 tales are "The Green Knight", "The Satin Surgeon", and "The Silent Princess". Henry Justice Ford's (1860-1941) artwork for the series "provided a benchmark in fantasy illustration" (Grolier). Though the Fairy Books are credited to Andrew Lang (1844-1912), he acknowledged in the preface to Lilac (1910) that they "have been almost wholly the work of Mrs [Leonora] Lang, who has translated and adapted them from the French, German, Portuguese, Italian, Spanish, Catalan, and other languages". Grolier Children's 100, 51. Octavo. Original olive cloth, spine lettered and stamped with fairy device in gilt, large gilt fairy block on front cover, green and blue illustrated endpapers, edges gilt. Frontispiece with tissue guard, 7 colour plates, 20 uncoloured engraved plates, further engravings in the text, all by H. J. Ford. Half-title excised; four illustrations neatly hand-coloured in pencil. Spine ends bumped, light cockling to rear cover, minor corner wear, decorations and contents generally bright. A very good copy.