My Playmate. [TUCK (Raphael)].

Father Tuck's "Furry Mascot" Series. Edited by Capt. Edric Vredenburg (10th London Regt).

Colour frontispiece and colour plate, black and white and coloured illustrations throughout.

First Edition. 4to. [262 x 197 x 14 mm]. [24]ff. Bound in the publisher's boards, the front cover lettered and illustrated in colour with a black felt cut-out of a sheep, red cloth spine. (Corners slightly worn).
London: Raphael Tuck & Sons Ltd, [1916?]

Lightly browned but a very good copy. With a neat ink inscription "To Betty from Uncle George 25.12.16".

Raphael Tuck & Sons and Captain Edric Vredenburg were a prolific partnership but few examples of the "Furry Mascot" Series have survived. Library catalogues around the world record three - Louis Wain's Catland Stories, Sunny Stories and The Children's Delight. Various other websites add variants of the third title including The Children's Friend, The Children's Companion and The Children's Hour. I have also found a 1920 edition of My Playtime Book, dated 1920, with a black felt sheep on the front, but no other copy of My Playmate.

A series of 24 stories and short verses starting with "Barbara and the Black Cats" by Grace C. Floyd, and including an essay on "Play-Time in Japan" by Lilian Timpson. The illustrators include Janet Murray, A. L. and M. Bowley, H. Cowham, N. Buchanan and Leigh Kidman.

Stock no. ebc7956