"Hungry man, reach for the book: it is a weapon. "
— Bertolt Brecht
Puck of Pook's Hill.
London: Macmillan and Co., 1906. [Fantasy Tales] FIRST EDITION, first impression. Octavo (21 x 14cm), pp.x; 306 [10]. With 20 black and white illustrations by H.R. Millar, including a frontispiece. Advertisements dated 20.8.06. Publisher's red cloth with gilt titles to spine, and gilt elephant medallion to upper board. Top edge gilt. Fly-leaf cancelled, and some light toning and spotting to edges and endpapers, otherwise internally clean. Bookseller's label to front pastedown. Cloth sunned and rubbed to spine, with lighter wear to boards. Very good. Kipling's popular series of tales set in different historical eras, including Roman Britain, Anglo-Saxon England, The Norman Conquest, The Middle Ages and the Tudor Period. The stories are all told to two children living near Pevensey, East Sussex, by characters magically plucked out of history by 'Puck'. Traditionally the term 'Puck' referred to a malicious spirit or demon of popular superstition, and from the 16th century the name of a mischievous goblin (or Hobgoblin), similar to that appearing in Shakespeare's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', the fairy scene from which is acted out here. Although 'Puck' is seen as a children's book, (in the same way 'Treasure Island' or 'King Solomon's Mines' are viewed), the story-tellers are adults and the romances they describe would only be suitable for older readers. Item #71049
Price: £125.00
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