SIGNED 1ST EDITION of AN UNEXPECTED GIFT. CHARLES VAN SANDWYK. AFTER JRR TOLKIEN

SIGNED 1ST EDITION of AN UNEXPECTED GIFT. A superb 1st Edition, 1st Printing of An Unexpected Gift, signed by the author and illustrator, Charles Van Sandwyk.

The book was published in 2013. It is beautifully bound in original red wrap-around card covers embellished in green and red foil with border and lettering panel in burnished gilt and an onlaid pictorial card label to the upper cover depicting a reindeer and a penguin. It also has superb matt gilt endpapers with a repeating design of holly sprigs. It includes 7 full colour plates (including 1 double-page spread), some are printed on untrimmed handmade paper, together with other plates and vignettes in sepia and red.

It is signed by Charles Van Sandwyk underneath an illustration of a penguin giving a sprig of holly to a polar bear. The book tells the tale of Bartholomew the Green, cousin of Father Christmas, who leaves Antarctica on a mission to restore an old-fashioned Christmas to a wayward and needy world. The illustrations are reminiscent of J R R Tolkien's drawings in The Father Christmas Letters.

Charles Van Sandwyk was influenced by Tolkien, this can be seen in some of his work and especially in this book. A superb, highly collectable book, definitely one to treasure. I have a few Charles Van Sandwyk books for sale, including a 1st Edition, 1st Printing of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland, which also has a very rare original watercolour by Charles Van Sandwyk tipped into the book. I also have a signed edition of How to See Fairies, Mr Rabbit's Symphony of Nature, The Wind in the Willows, and a signed 1st Edition, 1st Printing of Letters From Fairyland - please see my other items.

---