The springtide of life. Poems of childhood. With a preface by Edmund Gosse. Illustrated by Arthur Rackham.

4to.

Orig. publ. green cloth, front cover and spine lettered in gilt and decor. gold tooled, decor. endpapers, top edge green, orig. green printed dust jacket (a few sm. marg. def. at d.j., a few spots at edges and endpapers). Good, clean copy.

First edition of this work by the English poet A.C. Swinburne (1837-1909), ill. with 8 full-page colour plates with tissue guards and 52 b/w ill. in text, by Arthur Rackham (1867-1939). "As the close of his life approached, Swinburne frequently expressed his intention to extract from his various volumes those poems which were addressed to children, or were descriptive of child-life, and to publish them in a separate collection. He died without having found occasion to carry out this plan, and he left no directions with regard to the way in which it ought to be done [...] One reason why Swinburne never brought out such a collection was his failure to find an artist who could interpret to his satisfaction the simplicity and freshness of his verses. We are fortunate in having secured, in Mr. Arthur Rackham, one whose delicate and romantic fancy is in sensitive harmony with Swinburne's, and who understands, no less than he did, how "Heaven lies about us in our infancy."" (E. Gosse).