Grandpapa's Drawer Opened.
A Presentation Copy of the First American Edition
[Education]. Grandpapa’s Drawer Opened. New York: Printed for W.B. Gilley, 1828.
12mo.; black-and-white frontispiece illustration; endpapers foxed; all edges marbled; original calf-backed boards; upper and lower covers bordered in gilt and blind-stamped with an oval prize seal; spine decorated in gilt; top-edge worn. In a specially made cloth slipcase.
First American edition. A presentation copy, inscribed by schoolmistress Mary O’Kill on the front endpaper: Presented to Miss Elizabeth Mowatt of the 3rd class Preparatory School for having improved in her spelling and reading./ Mary O’Kill/ August 1st, 1831.
Originally published in Wellington, England in 1826, Grandpapa’s Drawer Opened tells the history of Vaudois in a context suitable for children. George, Emily, and Edward Benson are vacationing with their grandfather and are told to look in a drawer full of books and papers whenever they are in need of amusement. In the drawer, the children uncover information about Vaudois, a small Christian denomination that originated in the 12th century that valued poverty and austerity above all else. The children learn about how the followers of Vaudois (known as Waldensians) were persecuted by Roman Catholics in the Middle Ages, but refused to change their beliefs. The lengthy chapters dealing with Vaudois are interspersed with lighter passages featuring the children bird-watching and playing outdoors.
This edition of Grandpapa’s Drawer Opened is a lovely example of one of the signature bindings that George Champley produced specially for Mary O’Kill’s Preparatory School. The blind-stamped seal, engraved by J.D. Stout, on the upper and lower covers depicts instruments of learning surrounded by a laurel wreath. Mary O’Kill does not look up in the standard biographical resources. OCLC locates five other copies; RLG locates two.
(#9287)
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