Victorian Children’s Literature · Pictorial Binding · Animal Stories
A Horse in the Snow — Mary Howitt’s Our Four-Footed Friends, Fifth Edition
Author: Mary Howitt (1799–1888) Title: Our Four-Footed Friends Edition: Fifth edition, as stated on title page Publisher:
Catalogue details
Description
The arresting Victorian cover depicts a saddled horse lowering its head towards a fallen figure in a snowy landscape. Printed directly onto the original warm-ochre cloth, the scene combines the drama of animal loyalty with the decorative typography that characterised the nineteenth-century illustrated book. The binding is a notable surviving feature of this copy.
- Dimensions
- Measurements gladly provided on request
- Author
- Mary Howitt (1799–1888)
- Title
- Our Four-Footed Friends
- Edition
- Fifth edition, as stated on title page
- Publisher
- S. W. Partridge & Co., 9 Paternoster Row, London
- Date
- Undated, bibliographically assigned to c. 1870
- Binding
- Publisher’s ochre pictorial cloth, decorative gilt and black lettering
- Illustrations
- Full-page engravings; associated in bibliographical descriptions with Harrison Weir
- Condition
- Please consult the photographs for condition. Additional photographs are available on request.
Shipping quoted by destination before payment
Historical context & sources
Mary Howitt and the Victorian World of Animals
Mary Howitt (1799–1888), a prolific British author, poet and translator, wrote extensively for younger readers. These stories of horses, cats, dogs and other animals reflect the Victorian interest in animal intelligence, sympathy and humane treatment. Contents visible in the accompanying photograph include The Music-Loving Horses, Friends in Need, The Old Horse and the Bell of Justice and A Four-Footed Criminal.
The Illustrated Edition
The printed preliminary leaf lists full-page engravings and is illustrated with a carefully engraved kitten. A bibliographical comparison of this fifth edition describes 112 pages and 26 full-page engravings associated with Harrison Weir; these figures are cited as reference data only and have not yet been checked against every leaf of this particular copy.
Collectors & Research
Of interest to collectors of Victorian pictorial publishers’ bindings, nineteenth-century children’s literature, Mary Howitt, Harrison Weir and the history of animal-welfare ideas.
