The Brownies Through The Union

xii+144 pages with illustrations throughout from pen and ink drawings by the author. Quarto (10 1/4" x 8 1/4") bound in original publisher's pictorial laminated boards with original pictorial jacket. First edition.

The Brownies is a series of publications by Canadian illustrator and author Palmer Cox, based on names and elements from English traditional mythology and Scottish stories told to Cox by his grandmother. Illustrations with verse aimed at children, The Brownies was published in magazines and books during the late 19th century and early 20th century. The Brownie characters became famous in their day, and at the peak of their popularity were a pioneering name brand within merchandising. The first appearances of Brownie characters in a print publication took place in 1879, but not until the February 1881 issue of Wide Awake magazine were the creatures printed in their final form. The first proper story, The Brownies' Ride, appeared in the February 1883 issue of the children's periodical St. Nicholas Magazine. Published in 1899, The Brownies Abroad is considered the first Brownie comic strip, though it was mostly a text comic. It didn't utilize speech balloons until the publication The Brownie Clown of Brownie Town of 1908. From 1903, The Brownies appeared as a newspaper Sunday strip for several years. The first compilation, The Brownies, Their Book, was published in 1887, followed by 16 books in the series until the last in 1918. Palmer Cox died in 1924. The Brownies Through The Union was the fifth book in the series.

Condition:

Front hinge just starting, 1898 owner inscription to the first blank, a few drawings carefully and discreetly colored with wash. Jacket spine age toned, some small chips to edges else a very good copy in a very good but scarce jacket.