E. Nesbit

The Railway Children. London: Wells Gardner, Darton & Co. Ltd., [1906]

FIRST EDITION, PRESENTATION COPY INSCRIBED TO THE AUTHOR'S NIECE on front free endpaper ("To | Anthonia Nesbit | from E. Nesbit | Christmas 1906"), 8vo (233 x 144mm.), half-title, frontispiece, pictorial title, and 19 further plates by C.E. Brock, 10pp. publisher's advertisements at end, original pictorial maroon cloth gilt, top edge gilt, others uncut, half-title and frontispiece becoming detached at inner margin, plate opposite p. 121 loose, contents leaf slightly creased and frayed at inner margin, cockling to upper board, extremities rubbed

A charming association copy of Edith Nesbit's much-loved children's story, given by Edith to her niece Anthonia as a Christmas gift the year of the novel's publication, the only example recoꦗrded at auction inscribed to a relative of the author.

The printed dedication of Oswald Bastable, and Others, published in 1905, was also addressed to the author's "dear niece Anthonia Nesbit". Anthonia was the daughter of Edith's elder brother Alfred, who had died in 1894, leaving his family on the brink of destitution. Edith went on to lend personal support to the family of her late brother—she "tried to find work for their mother, contributed to the children's schooling, [...] bought them clothes from time to time" and even "kitted out Anthonia to go to college" (Briggs, p. 205). The Railway Children's depiction of a family forced to adapt to the sudden absence of a father would have resonated with Anthonia on a personal level, as Edith would have been all too aware—having become fatherless herself at a young age. The end of the novel sees the children reunited with their father ("Oh! My Daddy, my Daddy"); the 📖emotional charge of this moment is only enhanced by understanding t♈hat it is a wish fulfilment fantasy for both Edith and Anthonia.

LITERATURE:

Julia Briggs, A Woman of Passion: the life of E. Nesbit, 1858-1924, pp. 204-5