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"H.J.W. Becht, Amsterdam. 1899. True first edition, first printing. Only copy available globally, released in a very small printing. his wonderfully illustrated fantasy in which two children shrink to mouse size is notable for its fine drawings, mostly of anthropomorphic mice, by the Dutch artist Ludwig Willem Reymert Wenckebach (1860-1937). Wenckebach s books for children, regarded as pioneering, include the superb Notenkraker en Muizenkoning (The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, 1898), with rich, vibrant chromolithographic plates printed in eleven colours. The artist seems especially to have enjoyed drawing mice which feature in both The Nutcracker and In Mouse-Land. The Wolfsonian Library (Florida) renowned for its collection of Dutch Nieuwe Kunst (New Art) book bindings, calendars, and illustrations from the 1890s to 1920s notes that Wenckebach was "a talented and prolific artist … very well represented in the Wolfsonian collection, with more than 125 items . Most of the book bindings Wenckebach designed are typical of that era, when nature served as inspiration for all that was beautiful in art. Plants, flowers, orchids, butterflies and the curvilinear female form adorn most of the bindings he designed. But Wenckebach was also a talented graphic artist, [providing] illustrations for many children s books. This, of course, was the age when children s books did not shy away from vivid (and even gruesome) images that modern publishers generally eschew in books aimed at a juvenile audience. Wenckebach s images of the Nutcracker, for example, are both profoundly moving and disturbing." In de Muizenwereld was first published in 1894, complete with music for keyboard, integrated into the text. This is the first edition without music featuring just the story and illustrations. An English-language version was published by J. Curwen (London) in 1910. A delightful work, very scarce in the undated first edition; I can see no other copy currently for sale online. Condition Book complete and intact. Light creasing, finger-marking and smudging to margins, three or four short closed tears to upper/lower gutters, slight foxing around stitches, occasional foxing elsewhere, one spread with staining to upper margin, two tiny stains elsewhere, five internal hinges re-glued, first (blank) page with previous owner s name in ink, last (blank) page with small water-mark to upper edge. Endpapers plus first and last page with browning/offsetting, a little foxing and soiling; front endpapers with original bookseller s label, trace of bookseller s pencilled notes (erased); pastedowns with slight bubbling; rear endpaper hinge with small tear to foot. Top of page block with small water-mark. Binding a little loose. Boards and spine with soiling, staining, scratching and marks as shown, bumping, rubbing and wear to extremities, slight fraying to corners; spine with small tears to head and foot.". Seller Inventory # ABE-19233393105
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