he'd be best with a little mint-sauce for a relish

An unusually good example of the rarest of William Nicholson's illustrated works; his illustrations accompany rhymes by Arthur Waugh, a prolific author and biographer during the eighteen-nineties, and famous also as the father of Evelyn Waugh. William Nicholson produced a series of books in similar format and spirit to this one, including An Alphabet (1898), Twelve Portraits (First & Second series, 1899-1902) and London Types (1898).

First edition, trade issue; 4to (280 x 280 mm.); 12 transfer lithographs by Nicholson, usual offsetting onto text leaves; publisher's cloth-backed pictorial boards, usual darkening, some marking to lower cover, but overall a very good, sharp copy.