The Teddy Bearoplane

[JUVENILE] [RHYMING VERSE] [STIGMATIZING ILLUSTRATIONS] [WOMAN AUTHOR]. J.R. SINCLAIR, illustrator. The Acme Tone Engraving and Printing Co., Watford [England], printers.

First edition. 8vo; [52]pp; color pictorial front board featuring a Golliwogg and Teddy bear on a plane, line-drawn illustration on rear board; blue cloth shelf back; gift inscription to ffep dated "Dec. 1913"; color vignette to title page; 12 color pictorial plates on glazed paper; b&w illustrations throughout; scuffing to board edges, one plate with a 2" closed tear from bottom, one leaf with a 4" closed tear from bottom; very good minus. OCLC locates 8 copies, 2 in the U.S., one in Canada, and 5 in the U.K.

Written by the British author and poet, Mary (May) Clarissa Gillington Byron (1861-1936), the story features the adventures of Teddy Bear, a Golliwogg, and their plane. The story is told in rhyming verse and follows the adventures of Teddy and Golly as they build a number of planes that meet with limited flying success. When their plane is captured by a fort of wooden soldiers, the pair dress as Boy Scouts to mount a rescue. The verse is quick and bright.

The Golliwogg was a Black doll popularized in Europe in the writings of the author, Florence Kate Upton, in The Adventures of Two Dutch Dolls. The character was based on the Black minstrel doll owned by Upton in her youth. The Jim Crow Museum (Big Rapids, Michigan) classifies the character as a "caricature of a caricature."