Lot 110: William M. Timlin, “The Ship that Sailed to Mars, A Fantasy,” Told and Pictured by William M. Timlin. New York: Frederick A. Stokes Company, [1923]

William M. Timlin, “The Ship that Sailed to Mars, A Fantasy,” Told and Pictured by William M. Timlin. New York: Frederick A. Stokes Company, [1923]. First American Edition. Limited to 250 copies. Large quarto (12 x x 9 3/16 inches; 305 x 233 mm.). 96 pp. All on thick gray paper, comprising forty-eight mounted color plates and forty-eight mounted leaves of calligraphic text. Quarter vellum over gray boards, front cover decoratively lettered in black, spine elaborately stamped in gilt, gray end-papers. A good copy, with some light water stains to the covers, front top edge of vellum front edge pulled, pulling to the last few pages, top corners of pages 6, 48, 49 with wear/small losses, otherwise very nice. There are beautiful and revered books that are so rare that they remain largely unknown outside the community of specialists and collectors. The Ship that Sailed to Mars is such a book. Published in 1923 in a sumptuous and now very scarce edition, it is described by The Dictionary of 20th Century British Book Illustrators as a “masterpiece” and “the most original and beautiful children's book of the 1920s.” Architect William M. Timlin had never written or illustrated a book when he created for his son's entertainment a science-fiction fantasy tale of an Old Man who sails to Mars on a ship of his own design. Despite Timlin's inexperience, the first publishing house to see The Ship that Sailed to Mars was so enchanted that they decided to publish it exactly as Timlin had given it to them – with 48 water-color images alternating with 48 pages of Timlin's hand-written text – and do so in a lavish edition that would equal the great editions deluxe of the pre-World War I era. The combination of Timlin's evocative watercolors, magical story, and the edition's superlative production values made the 1923 The Ship that Sailed to Mars an instant classic. Unfortunately, fire destroyed many of the original 2000 1923 copies and much of the original artwork.

book

A good copy, with some light water stains to the covers, front top edge of vellum front edge pulled, pulling to the last few pages, top corners of pages 6, 48, 49 with wear/small losses, otherwise very nice

Private Collection, New York