TOM BROWN's SCHOOL DAYS by Thomas Hughes - 1918

This is a first copy of the Herbert Strang Empire edition of Tom Brown's School Days, published for Oxford University Press in 1918. Herbert Strang was the pseudonym for George Herbert Ely and Charles L'Estrange, who published highly popular book series on behalf of various clients. All were beautifully produced, with great colours and designs. The 'Empire' refers to the books exported to Canada, Australia, New Zealand, India etc., all countries in the British Empire excluding Great Britain.

I attach an image of their 1918 offerings; Tom Brown's School Days is the 12th.

This is a small pretty book, lovely bright red/orange boards with an impressed design on both covers, and on the spine, and bright yellow lettering on the cover and spine. Like all of their editions, there is a brilliant full-colour illustration at the front.

The spine has a little fading and there is a bookplate on the front endpaper (not the cover).

Page 29 has a small, taped tear. The paper is very thick, and is darkening. The spine is tight but could use some attention.
Overall though, it's a lovely little book. And I've found a couple of other titles from this series, but not Tom Brown's School Days.

This story has been adapted for film, TV and stage, as drama and musical. It is also the inspiration for Flashman--Flashman stems from this book.