DELIGHTFUL THAMES

4to. No date [1886]. 29 printed pages. Frontispiece (tissue guarded) and 28 illustrations, all printed in brown ink, including the text. 23 x 28.5 cm. Original light blue cloth. Upper cover with Cooper illustration of boater wearing female paddling canoe near bullrushes in navy blue and decorative lettering in gilt. On lower cover, publishers monogram printed centrally in navy. Complete with rare original grey/light blue dust jacket with same design and lettering style as upper cover, printed in navy, with flaps but unpriced and plain on the lower cover and along the spine (very minor wear at spine ends and on upper corners. Similar flap-style jackets were in general use by the 1880s, and probably earlier, although the number of surviving examples from the 1850s, 1860s, and 1870s is too small to prove exactly when they became ubiquitous, and again, there are no known publishers' records that document the use of dust jackets during these decades. Also most very early dust jackets were much plainer than the books they covered, often simply repeating the main elements of the binding decoration in black on cream or brown paper. WorldCat locates 11 copies but there are no others recorded with their dust jackets. This is in beautiful condition.