Old & Rare
Illustrator: Walter Crane
[CRANE, Walter]. A Gaping-wide-mouth Waddling Frog. [London: George Routledge and Sons (ca. 1880)]. 8vo, 8pp. Color pictorial paper wrappers. Color illustrations on every page. Lightly rubbed and soiled, some light interior hand-soiling, a tad foxed at fore-edge, else an unusually clean, bright copy of this scarce and fragile book.
Early printing being issued around 1880 based on the ads on the rear. One of the first “Sixpenny Toy Books” illustrated by Walter Crane for George Routledge and printed by the influential engraver Edmund Evans. Crane’s striking illustrations bring out the humor of this delightfully absurd nursery rhyme.