THE BUTTERFLY'S BALL AND THE GRASSHOPPER'S FEAST. To which is added, an original poem, entitled, A Winter's Day. By Mr. Smith, of Stand.
Philadelphia: Published by B.C. Buzby, at his Juvenile Book Store, No. 2, North Third Street. [Joseph Rakestraw, Printer], 1809. 12 mo. 5 1/4 x 4 3/16 in. 16 pp., [9] leaves of plates, "illustrated with elegant engravings". Original buff printed wrappers rubbed, spine with some erosion, corners curled; front cover with vignette of a beehive, rear cover with publisher's ads. This copy has a duplicate copy of the frontispiece plate, bound in at the rear; several plates with contemporary hand coloring. From the Bella Landauer collection: on the verso of front wrapper is the bookplate she had made for her children Beverly and Barbara. Earlier pencil ownership signature on the recto of the frontis.: "Rachel Marshall June 8th, 1827".
First American edition of this classic, with only two copies located, one at Yale which has a defective front wrapper and one other at the Lilly Library. Illustrations differ slightly from originals by Irish artist William Mulready. A break away concept in its time as one of the earliest imaginative childrens stories rather than a moral tale. It went through numerous reprints. Item #61123
cf. Osborne I, 76-77: "William Roscoe... has been acclaimed as the first person to write sheer nonsense for boys and girls." John Harris, the original publisher of the English edition discovered how wildly popular such nonsense could be and went on to publish numerous sequels to the work.
Welch 1129.
Price: $2,500.00