Leonard A. G. Strong (1896-1958) British, Hansom Cab 1935 First Edition. This book is titled The Hansom Cab And The Pigeons Being Reflections Upon The Silver Jubilee Of King George V, by L. A. G. Strong and printed in 1935 in London at the Golden Cockerel Press. It is a first edition, with just a single date on the title page and no other printings, and it is a rare limited edition that is numbered and signed by Strong. The Golden Cockerel Press was an English fine press operating between 1920 and 1961 that printed handmade limited editions of classic works. The type was hand-set and the books were printed on handmade paper, sometimes on vellum, and a feature of Golden Cockerel books was the original illustrations, usually wood engravings, contributed by artists who were top echelon, and if you have a book printed by them, you have something special. The limitation page at the rear says “This book has been printed at the Golden Cockerel Press … London … and completed on the last day of March, 1935. Compositors: A. H. Gibbs & E. J. Ward. Pressman: H. Barker. The first edition is limited to 212 numbered copies signed by the Author & printed on hand-made paper and 1000 unnumbered & unsigned copies on machine-made paper. Number 165. L A. G. Strong, God Save the King!” 

Size: 9 5/8 X 6 1/2 in. 

#6493 . 

Leonard Alfred George Strong (1896-1958) was a celebrated writer of his day, as well as director of publishers at Methuen for twenty years. 

Eric Ravilious (1903 - 1942) was a British painter, designer, book illustrator and wood-engraver who grew up in Sussex, and this was the last of four Golden Cockerels to be illustrated by him. He served as a war artist who depicted war scenes while he was assigned to the Admiralty in World War II and was the first British war artist to die in active service when his aircraft was lost in action off Iceland. 

(See Chanticleer: A Bibliography of the Golden Cockerel Press,” April 1921 - August 1936.   Chanticleer calls The Hansom Cab one of the press’s most successful efforts.) 

The book measures 9 5/8 x 6 1/2 inches wide, with marbled boards that resemble peacock feathers, silver lettering on the spine, blank endpapers, a woodcut frontis by Eric Ravilious, then the title page, the text runs from page 5 to 39, plus the limitation page at the rear, and there are a total of six woodcut engravings by Ravilious. 

The book is in very good condition: the binding is tight and the pages and text are very clean, with light tape residue on the endpapers, light browning on the edges of a couple of pages in front, and the silver lettering on the spine has faded a bit. 

The book is dedicated to the reign of George V and is very hard to find, especially with only 212 copies being available for the numbered and signed edition. Unnumbered copies go for $90 to $300 and numbered copies like this one go for $250 to $600 on the rare book website we use.