St Marys Books

First edition, first impression in original dust jacket. The first book of the series, which is the most sought after and collectable of them. Hardback clothbound with gilt tooled title to cover and spine. Original pictorial dust jacket, with flyleaves clipped but not price-clipped. Original price of 7s. 6d. net showing. Pictorial endpapers with coloured details. Illustrated frontispiece and vignette to title page. Extremities of cloth board a little faded, as well as cloth spine. Cloth spine edges a little bumped. Jacket spine a little darkened, and minor darkening to very edges of jacket cover. Shallow loss to spine edges of jacket, affecting the border but not the text. Jacket still presents brightly with vivid colours. Internally free from inscriptions, no foxing, and binding is tight. Overall very good condition. 350 pp. Set in the summer of 1929, a year before the publication of the book, the story was inspired by a summer Ransome spent teaching the Altounyan children to sail in the Lake District. Ransome had rejected Stephen Spurrier's illustrations, only keeping the iconic map for the endpapers and dust jacket. One of Britain's most beloved children's books, this first edition is a superb collectable item.