THE BIRTH OF THE OPAL: A Child's Fancies.

London: George Allen & Company Limited., 1913. First edition. Quarto. Publisher's original colour illustrated paper-covered boards with titles in gilt to the upper board, in dustwrapper. Illustrated endpapers. Illustrated with 12 tipped-in colour plates and numerous black and white full-page drawings and in-text vignettes by Daphne Allen. 95pp. A near fine copy, the binding firm and bright with just a little wear to the spine ends. The contents with a few small marks to the title page are otherwise clean and fresh throughout. Complete with the original near fine dustwrapper which has a minor mark to the upper panel and a little wear to the tips of the spine. An excellent copy. An attractive copy of the second book by the Edwardian child artist Daphne Allen (1899-1985), published when she was just 14 years old. The work comprises a collection of short stories written by Allen, along with a selection of classic poetry, all accompanied by an extensive array of whimsical fairy-esque illustrations largely completed by the author when she was 13 years old.

Born in Stamford Hill, London, Allen was taught painting from an early age by her father, the artist Hugh Allen (son of the publisher George Allen), and also took life-classes in Chelsea. She began showing her work at the age of 12, holding her first exhibitions at the Dudley Gallery, which coincided with the publication of her first two books, A Child's Visions (1912) and The Birth of the Opal (1913). She went on to exhibit with the Society of Women Artists, at the Burlington Gallery, St. Paul's Deanery, and the Drummond Gallery, also becoming a member of the Royal Society of Painters in Watercolours and the Streatham Society. Focussing mainly on painting and drawing fairies and spiritual subjects, in addition to illustrating her own books, Allen also provided drawings for numerous other poetic and religious works of the period, had prints of her paintings published by the Medici Society, and worked for many magazines, including The Illustrated London News, The Sketch, and The Tatler.

In 1919 Allen exhibited alongside the Glasgow School artist Annie French (1872-1965) at the Burlington Gallery, and it can certainly be observed that her aesthetic resembles that of French, and of contemporary Art Nouveau illustration more broadly; with her delicate line and ethereal atmosphere, The Graphic was as bold as to call Allen the "little girl who rivals William Blake".