We discovered this gem St. Winifred's or The World of School by F. W. Farrar at a charming bookstore on the Upper West Side in Manhattan. We were drawn to it's uniquely engraved cover and gilded leafy spine, a beautiful combination. It is a popular children's book. This is a 3rd Edition, originally published in 1862. A few of the front and back pages have calligraphy pen notes, from December 1920 which are in gorgeous penmanship. The graphic illustrations on the inside and back spreads are stunning.
Published: Harper & Brothers, NY & Ward Lock & Co, London
About the Author: Frederic William Farrar (Bombay, 7 August 1831 – Canterbury, 22 March 1903) was a cleric of the Church of England (Anglican), schoolteacher and author. He was a pallbearer at the funeral of Charles Darwin in 1882. He was a member of the Cambridge Apostles secret society. He was the Archdeacon of Westminster from 1883 to 1894, and Dean of Canterbury Cathedral from 1895 until his death in 1903. (Goodreads)
Excerpt & commentary from Google Books:
"Good-bye, Walter; good-bye, Walter dear! good-bye!" and the last note of this chorus was "Dood-bye," from a blue-eyed, fair-haired girl of two years, as Walter disengaged his arms from his mother's neck, and sprang into the carriage which had already been waiting a quarter of an hour to convey him and his luggage to the station. It is the old, old story: Mr Evson was taking his son to a large public school, and this was the first time that Walter had left home. Nearly every father who deigns to open this little book has gone through the scene himself; and he and his sons will know from personal experience the thoughts, and sensations, and memories, which occupied the minds of Walter Evson and his father, as the carriage drove through the garden gate and the village street, bearing the eldest boy of the young family from the sacred and quiet shelter of a loving home, to a noisy and independent life among a number of strange and young companions."
