The Children's Friend.

£155 · Offered by Maggs Bros Ltd

Uncommon in original wrappers, this year’s worth of a didactic juvenile periodical is included as something of a highpoint of late victorian wood-engraving. Many of the numerous plates are unsigned, but others are, and the artists include Harrison William Weir (1824-1906), who contributed to the Illustrated London News for more than 50 years, and was an extremely successful animal artist, persuading Charles Darwin to become a patron of the Crystal Palace Cat Show. The December issue includes a title-page and index for binding up, and most surviving copies are thus treated. Remarkably well preserved year’s output of a fragile and ephemeral periodical, same ownership inscription on each issue.

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