The Jolly Old Man Who Sings: Down Derry Down

London: Dean & Son 65 Ludgate Hill, 1865. Hardcover. Very Good +. Large 8vo.Not dated but circa 1865. Bound in a printed coloured upper board, cloth spine, rear board printed in black on buff/ yellow paper with a list of Dean's ‘Little Plays, for Little People’. Illustrated with eight full page hand-coloured woodcuts. The page following the last of the illustrations contains a printed face of the "jolly old man" about an inch high which penetrates right through the book to the front cover, the faces of the woodcuts being cut away . Beneath each plate is a rhyming verse about the activities of the Jolly Old Man. Additional publisher's advertisements are on the green endpapers.Pages are misbound, the collation is 1,2,3,4,7,8,5,6. Boards are soiled with rubbed corners and edges; inner hinge looks as if it has been strengthened as there is a little glue residue. A very good copy and a scarce book.I suspect that this was originally issued with a carved face of the jolly old man, such as the edition on offer by Thorn Books. I do have another copy, a very worn copy with the face missing. The title again printed in colour but on yellow paper. The Dean & Son address being ’11 Ludgate Hill’ with different adverts on the rear. Advertising ‘Novelties in Children’s Books’ including the ‘Dean’s new Book of Dissolving Views’ etc. The above copy I have for sale is addressed as ‘65 Ludgate Hill’. Dean & Son moved to Fleet street in 1871.