R.M. Ballantyne | The Coral Island: a Tale of the Pacific Ocean, 1848, first edition, original pictorial blue cloth gilt

R.M. Ballantyne

The Coral Island: a Tale of the Pacific Ocean. London: T. Nelson & Sons, 1848

FIRST EDITION, first issue, 8vo (179 x 120mm.), coloured frontispiece, additional pictorial title, and 6 plates after the author, original pictorial blue cloth gilt, half-morocco slipcase, light spotting and browning at extremities, slightly frayed at head of spine, two leaves with small closed tears (not affecting text), extremities slightly rubbed

First edition of one of the most popular of all Scottish novels, in the first issue binding with the title and pictorial design blocked in gilt with the large embossed central circle on the upper cover.

"It is seldom that one meets a man who has not, in his youth, read at least one of Ballantyne's adventure tales. To most of the Fathers and Grandfathers of today, there must still cling around the name of this nineteenth-century author the golden fragrance of the coral islands of their youth" (Eric Quayle, Ballantyne the Brave, 1967).

LITERATURE:

Quayle 12a.

PROVENANCE:

Presentation inscription to front free endpaper: "To | Robert Cookson | Prize of the Second Class | Latin, also for good conduct. | Belfield House, Bowdon | 16th December 1858".