Kenneth Grahame (1859-1932) and E.H. Shepard (1879-1976, illustrator)
The Wind in the Willows. London: Methuen & Co., 1931.
Small quarto (227 x 182mm). Folding map at end, illustrations by E.H. Shepard (a few spots at edges). Original cloth-backed boards with paper printed spine label, replacement spine label bound in at end as issued, mostly unopened (lacking the dust-jacket, edges lightly rubbed and faded, small stain on spine label). Provenance: C.W. Chamberlain (Chairman and Managing Director of Methuen; presentation inscription by Shepard on limitation leaf, later gift inscription from Chamberlain and note loosely inserted) – Christie’s, South Kensington, 3 July 1998, lot 36.

Limited edition, one of 200 copies on hand-made paper signed by the author and artist, this being an out-of-series copy inscribed by Shepard, ‘This is a presentation copy for C.W. Chamberlain Esq’. Chamberlain, the Chairman and Managing Director of the publisher, Methuen, later presented the book to his granddaughter with an additional inscription, ‘May 1942. Now presented to dear S.P. by Grandpa Chamberlain’, and with a note loosely inserted urging that the present volume be ‘put away until the young lady is of an age to understand how to look after good books! (It is quite valuable)’.