Puck of Pook's Hill

[Fantasy Tales] LEATHER-BOUND FIRST EDITION, first impression. Octavo (21 x 14cm), pp.[4] x; 306 [12]. With 20 black and white illustrations by H.R. Millar, including a frontispiece. Advertisements dated 15.8.06. Elegantly hand-bound in red half morocco with raised bands, gilt titles to spine, and the original cloth with gilt elephant medallion to upper board. Top edge gilt. Light toning to edges. A nice clean copy in an attractive recent leather binding. Very good. Kipling's popular series of tales set in different historical eras, including Roman Britain, Anglo-Saxon England, The Norman Conquest, The Middle Ages and the Tudor Period. The stories are all told to two children living near Pevensey, East Sussex, by characters magically plucked out of history by 'Puck'. Traditionally the term 'Puck' referred to a malicious spirit or demon of popular superstition, and from the 16th century the name of a mischievous goblin (or Hobgoblin), similar to that appearing in Shakespeare's 'A Midsummer Night's Dream', the fairy scene from which is acted out here. Although 'Puck' is seen as a children's book, (in the same way 'Treasure Island' or 'King Solomon's Mines' are viewed), the story-tellers are adults and the romances they describe would only be suitable for older readers.…