The Zoo; Described and Illustrated

London [ca.1922]: Baynard Press. Small Octavo. [15] unnumbered pages. After producing some advertising material, he and his wife worked to produce the Zoo in 1922 which is considered the first and rarest of his works. (see Kirkus, Robert Gibbings, A Bibliography #1 (page 5). The bibliographer notes: "I have seen only one copy of this book which is not in the British Museum or the library of the Zoological Society." According to OCLC all reported copies are in microfilm. Kirkus further notes that the records of the Bayard Press suffered during World War II but C.R. Sinnett, the Press's director remembered that the printing costs had been underwritten by the London Underground. It certainly proceeded his Twelve Wood Engravings privately printed by the same printer Sanders, Phillips in 1922. Moira Gibbings, Martin J. Andrews, The Life and Work of Robert Gibbings takes the 1922 as his first book. The Bodleian has a copy in Box 1 of items printed by the Baynard Press. The text gives an account of a day trip to the zoo by two children and their well-traveled 'Uncle Max', and was produced for London Underground as a piece of publicity. Then, in 1923 Golden Cockerel Press began to commission him for many of their finest works and he began his long association in what has been called the revival of British wood engraving. A fine copy bound in pictorial stiff paper wraps.