Yvette in Switzerland and Titania's Palace (Signed first edition)

Signed by Nevile Wilkinson to his daughter Guendolen, who first saw the fairies he built Titania's Palace for

Author

Publisher

Printing Details

First edition. Hardback, bound in the original grey cloth with red printed titling and design to spine and upper board. 25 × 19cm, 132pp [1].

An important copy as this first edition is signed by the author, "To Guendolen from Father, Sept 21st 1926". Guendolen was Wilkinson's eldest daughter and according to legend reported seeing fairies in the roots of a sycamore tree at their home in Mount Merrion, Dublin. He wished to build a fitting home for the Queen of the Fairies (Titania) and so commissioned James Hicks & Sons, an Irish cabinet maker, to build Titania's Palace, an intricate wooden dolls house in the form of a castle (it was tiny 18-room palace complete with miniature artwork, mosaic floors, and hand-bound tiny books).

To raise funds for children's charities, Wilkinson toured with the palace globally and wrote a series of travel narratives featuring the fictional character Yvette visiting real locations while weaving in tales of Titania's Palace. This title has Yvette in Switzerland, as well as a chapter on the palace, and is illustrated with photographs of the palace's interiors from photographs by Wilkinson and scenes from Switzerland. The frontispiece is The Matterhorn by John Singer Sargent.

A rare copy of a popular book signed by the author to his daughter whose magical declaration in the garden inspired her father to create Titania's Palace in the first place.

Condition

This copy is in very good condition for age. There is a little light spotted foxing to the pages but minor. There are a few marks and scuffs to the cloth boards, with a small patch of fading at the top of the rear board where it meets the spine. The inner binding is secure and all plates present.