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First edition of this scarce Melbourne-printed fairy book from the New Zealander artist, one of three books in the Mite Merry Series that were "milestones" in Australian children's book production. This story in verse features a gorgeously illustrated koala, fairy and a strange animal with the body of an emu and a camel's head. Except for a short stint at art school in London, Gaze was largely a self-taught artist. Eventually he moved to Pasadena, where he did some work for the Disney Studio. Gaze didn't illustrate a large number of books, but his work is distinctive and wonderful. Robert Holden describes the books in this series: "by Australian standards these titles were milestones in the history of children's book production. Their large quarto format and pleasing typography and layout were indicative of the publisher's understandable enthusiasm and belief that a major new talent had arrived." This is a great copy of a rare book. 10'' x 7.5''. Original side-stitched blue paper wrappers, color paste-on. Illustrated by Gaze with 3 tipped-in full-page plates (two in color) and 8 pen-and-ink drawings in-text. [32] pages. Faint corner stain on front wrapper, light rubbing to edges, else clean and bright: difficult to find in this condition.

Melbourne, Auckland et al.: Whitcombe & Tombs Limited, 1919. First Edition. Wraps. Very good +. Gaze, Harold. Quarto size, [32] pp. A book of poetry about the chewg-um-glewg-um, which "has an Emu's body / And a smiling Camel's head", written and illustrated by Harold Gaze (1885-1963). Gaze is known for his colourful elvish creatures, fairies, and fantastical creatures. Having studied in London, he lived in his native New Zealand and Australia until moving to California (Pasadena) in 1927. Beginning in 1917 he started producing illustrations for fantasy books; his "quirky draftsmanship and stunning utilization of watercolor made him stand out as one of the few male artists in a field dominated by female illustrators" (n.b., info and quote from the web site of Illustration Artists Gallery). "The Chewg-um-blewg-um" is the third part of the "Mite Merry" series, valued for its rich colour plates. The imaginative and atmospheric fairyscapes of Gaze's expressive watercolours reproduce beautifully, bringing the poems and story into wondrous life. ___DESCRIPTION: String-bound, the wraps of blue laid paper cardstock with lettering and borders in red on the front surrounding a full-colour onlay illustration by Gaze (reproducing one of the illustrations inside), the title page with a black-and-white illustration and a decorated border in blue, the same blue border on every printed page, with three illustrations tipped-in (one black-and-white, two in full colour, one of which has the wing-top of Mite Merry extending past the left-hand border of the illustration) and seven black-and-white printed illustrations (one full-page the others in-text); quarto size (10 1/8" by 7 5/8"), unpaginated with sixteen leaves. ___CONDITION: Better than very good, the wraps clean, the paper onlay clean and with only a minute amount of wear, the string binding now strong (we had a professional replace the old string, name available upon request), the tipped-in illustrations clean and without wear (other than the wing-tip of Merry Mite which extends into the guttar margin of the second colour plate, which has some light creases), the interior is clean and bright, and entirely free of prior owner markings; some overall edgewear to the wraps mostly at the corners, head and tail of spine. ___POSTAGE: International customers, please note that additional postage may apply as the standard does not always cover costs; please inquire for details. ___Swan's Fine Books is pleased to be a member of the ABAA, ILAB, and IOBA and we stand behind every book we sell. Please contact us with any questions you may have, we are here to help.