Flower Fairies of the Winter

Ex-library book with unclipped decorative dustjacket over bright blue paper hardbound boards. The boards and spine are in very good condition but with a darker mark at lower left front, rear boards and spine where library sticker was attached. All corners are sharp with no wear or bumping. The binding on each book is tight and straight, with no cracking of the hinges. The dustjacket has slight edge wear and rubbing with a yellowing where library tape was attached. Internally there is a school stamp to the front free endpaper and a library card pocket on the rear free endpaper but otherwise all of the interior pages are clean with no tears, cracks or other previous owner marks. Poems and sixteen full page watercolor illustrations. Cicely Mary Barker (1895 – 1973) was an English illustrator best known for a series of fantasy illustrations depicting fairies and flowers but she also had an extensive body of work in addition to her fairies. Barker was epileptic as a child and spent much of her time being cared for at home but with her father's death when she was seventeen Barker, and her sister Dorothy, worked to care for themselves and their mother. She was a devout Anglican and donated her artworks to Christian fundraisers and missionary organization. Barker worked in watercolor with pen-and-ink but she was equally competent in black-and-white, in oils, and in pastels. Though she published Flower Fairy books with spring, summer and autumn themes, it wasn't until 1985 that a winter collection was assembled from her remaining work and published posthumously.