1899 ❧ A charming suite of plates with family provenance. CRAIG, EDWARD GORDON. Gordon Craig's Book of Penny Toys. Hackbridge, At the Sign of the Rose, 1899. Folio (211 x 180 mm image size). 20 woodcuts, proof impressions, hand-colored by the artist for his daughter, professionally mounted and matted, preserved in a cloth slipcase, with an album or scrapbook, one or two leaves loose, including ALs from the artist loosely inserted, original boards, hand-colored paper label, rubbed, preserved in a cloth slipcase, all items housed within a 1/2 blue morocco over cloth drop-back box. Provenance: Daphne Craig (Miss 22), the artists' daughter with a letter of confirmation from Tom Craig (the artists' great-grandson). The Book of Penny Toys was printed privately in 1899 in 500 copies. When Craig began to hand-color the prints, he realised that finishing all 500 copies would be too laborious, so decided to burn around 250 copies. The album accompanying the plates includes an exceptional selection of personal family ephemera, notably featuring a striking 1938 GPO greetings telegram designed by Rex Whistler (signed in print as 'Gwynn'), alongside a fascinating, original 1952 circular puzzle-poem executed in original pen-and-ink and watercolor. This whimsical, hand-lettered wheel displays skilled artistic execution with a series of naive character illustrations, utilizing sharp culinary wit to deliver a tongue-in-cheek critique of a poorly baked dinner and its cook, explicitly focusing on the baking of a 'pastie-with-the-neck.' Both items are addressed to Daphne Craig under her affectionate family nickname '22,' adding a deeply intimate dimension to this artistic archive. Fletcher & Rood, Edward Gordon Craig: A Bibliography, A2(a); Colin Franklin, The Private Press, pp. 114-118; Carteret, Le Trésor du bibliophile, IV. For further information on this lot please visit Bonhams.com For further information about this lot please visit the lot listing