Mrs. Brown at Margate
SKETCHLEY, Arthur, [[pseud. G., ROSE], ]
SCARCE RAILWAY BOOK WITH WH SMITH BOOKSTALL STAMP
Published: George Routledge, [1874]
Stock code: 18938
Price: £80.00
Sm. 8vo., First Edition[?], wanting lower half of title, some light dust-soiling; original pictorial boards, front cover faded and worn (with small loss at lower corner) but with pictorial image wholly legible, lower board in yellow printed with advertisements in black, backstrip lettered in black (worn with partial loss) else a good, sound copy of very scarce and fragile title.
WITH FRONT AND REAR ADVERTISEMENT ENDPAPERS, AND THE STATION BOOKSTALL STAMP OF W H SMITH ON FRONT FREE ENDPAPER. George Rose's 'Mrs Brown' series, all written in Cockney under his pseudonym of Arthur Sketchley, were popular favourites at railways bookstalls during the last quarter of the nineteenth century. Although worn, this scarce and unassuming copy has all the assets - front and rear advertisements, series catalogue, WHS stamp and front board image highlighting the frivolity of seaside Margate as it approached its zenith as one of the Cockneys' favourite watering-holes. A WONDERFULLY EVOCATIVE COPY FROM THE GOLDEN AGE OF RAILWAY LEISURE. IN THIS CONDITION, A RARE SURVIVAL.