The Water Babies : A Fairy Tale for a Land Baby

388pp. Monochrome illustrations (four plates). Quarter bound in leather over marbled paper. Rubbed and heavily worn all over, back strip crumbled with tape repair, similar over endpapers. Binding weakened but effective still. Occasional spotting internally, and lengthy inscription on half title page, else bright and clean internally. a children's novel by Charles Kingsley. Written in 1862-63 as a serial for Macmillan's Magazine, The Water Babies was first published as a whole in 1863. Part satire supporting Darwin's The Origin of Species, it was highly popular in England, and formed a mainstay of British children's literature for decades, until eventually falling out of favour in part due to its prejudices regarding the Irish, Jews, Catholics and Americans