A Masque of Days From The Last Essays of Elia: Newly Dressed & Decorated. London: Cassell & Co., Ltd. 1901. First Edition. Unpaginated. Fully illustrated in colour. A good clean copy without inscriptions, bound in quarter cloth boards fully illustrated to front and rear with title to spine and illustrated endpapers, corners lightly bumped.

The masque was a courtly feast involving dance, theatre, music and song popular in sixteenth century Europe. This work is a charming allegorical tale in which the guests at such a masque are The Days of the Year, whose invitations are brought to them by twelve foot-pages called The Hours.

Walter Crane (1845-1915) was one of the earliest contributors to children’s literature and one of the most influential illustrators in the development of children’s colour picture books.