Agatha Snellen / L.W.R. Wenckebach (ill) - In de Muizenwereld & Kijkjes in de Plantenwereld - 1893-1899

Two rare Dutch L.W.R. Wenckebach illustrated children's books:

1 "In de Muizenwereld, een nieuwe vertelling" by Agatha Snellen and illustrate by L.W.R. Wenckebach - H.J.W. Becht, Amsterdam - 1899 first thus Dutch edition - 25cmx18cm - condition: good, original binding, some wear and rubbing to boards, name to ffep, binding loosening, all Wenckebach ill present

wonderfully illustrated fantasy in which two children shrink to mouse size is notable for its fine drawings, mostly of anthropomorphic mice, by the Dutch artist Ludwig Willem Reymert Wenckebach (1860-1937). Wenckebach's books for children, regarded as pioneering, include the superb Notenkraker en Muizenkoning (The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, 1898), with rich, vibrant chromolithographic plates printed in eleven colours. The artist seems especially to have enjoyed drawing mice which feature in both The Nutcracker and In Mouse-Land. The Wolfsonian Library (Florida) renowned for its collection of Dutch Nieuwe Kunst (New Art) book bindings, calendars, and illustrations from the 1890s to 1920s notes that Wenckebach was "a talented and prolific artist very well represented in the Wolfsonian collection, with more than 125 items . Most of the book bindings Wenckebach designed are typical of that era, when nature served as inspiration for all that was beautiful in art. Plants, flowers, orchids, butterflies and the curvilinear female form adorn most of the bindings he designed. But Wenckebach was also a talented graphic artist, [providing] illustrations for many children's books. This, of course, was the age when children's books did not shy away from vivid (and even gruesome) images that modern publishers generally eschew in books aimed at a juvenile audience. Wenckebach's images of the Nutcracker, for example, are both profoundly moving and disturbing." In de Muizenwereld was first published in 1894, complete with music for keyboard, integrated into the text. This is the first edition without music featuring just the story and illustrations. An English-language version was published by J. Curwen (London) in 1910. A delightful work, very scarce in the undated first edition;

2 "Kijkjes in de Plantenwereld" by Emilie Knappert and ill. by L.W.R. Wenckebach - Loman & Funke, Amsterdam - rare 1893 first Dutch edition - 25cmx18cm - condition: good, original binding, some discolouring and rubbing to boards, all Wenckebach ill. present.