NICHOLSON, William (artist). An Alphabet. London; William Heinemann. 1898.
Folio; publisher's oatmeal wide-weave cloth lettered in black to spine and boldly panelled and decorated in black and colours to both covers, all edges gilt, original brown endpapers; with pictorial title-page and a total of 26 alphabet plates beautifully lithographed in colours (rather than printed as woodblocks in the ordinary edition) and tipped in at the inner gutter between leaves of brown guard paper; a wonderful copy displaying virtually no external wear, none of the commonly-found knocking to corners, with only one small 1cm spot to upper board and small abrasions to lower forecorner tips, just exposing board, internally crisp and fresh with all plates fine and unfoxed and with minimal spotting to brown interleaves (which are invariably heavily mottled).
First edition. This is the superior and impressive Library Edition of Nicholson's celebrated Alphabet, for which the precise limitation is, apparently, unrecorded, although it is known that 150 copies were ordered for the American market. The plates in this edition are printed on good quality laid paper. An Alphabet has become a scarce book largely because copies are often broken up for the plates. The ABC runs as follows: A was an Artist; B for Beggar; C for Countess; D for Dandy; E for Earl; F is for Flower Girl; G for Gentleman; H for Huntsman; I for Idiot; J for Jockey; K for Keeper; L for Lady; M for Milkmaid; N for Nobleman; O for Ostler; P for Publican; Q for Quaker; R for Robber; S for Sportsman; T for Trumpeter; U for Urchin; V is for Villain; W for Waitress; X for Xylographer; Y is for Yokel, and Z is for Zoologist. 'A for Artist' is a self-portrait of Nicholson. Campbell 25B.
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