San Francisco, California, U.S.A. Alan Wofsy Fine Arts, 1975. First edition thus. 4to - over 9¾" - 12" tall. Hardcover. With the dust jacket. Good plus in a good plus dust jacket.

A gorgeous facsimile of the original 1897 edition, which was the first in a series of books printed for publisher William Heinemann. Each of these books was illustrated with Nicholson's distinctive woodblock prints. The graphics of these prints were revolutionary for the time, hinting at the direction that graphic art would take. Elegant and striking portraits (A is for Artist, B is for Beggar, etc.), were rendered in subtle earth tones and black by the artist, who with his brother-in-law, James Pryde were known as the Beggarstaff Brothers. Plates are 9.75 x 7.75 inches. The alphabet consists of 26 portraits starting with the artist's as the letter A. Nicholson used woodblock printing techniques in a very limited palette. Nicholson (1872-1949) made a strong impact on graphic art, using vigorous, massive forms in contrast with the line work characteristic of Victorian art.

Would have been graded Very Good copy if not for a faint stain to lower corner of dust jacket and pages. A bit more so to dust jacket. Does not affect illustrations. Book has almost no sign of wear, light toning to pages. DJ has light shelf wear, a bit of sunning to spine. Text is clean.