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Author: Tales retold by Emily Underdown, from "The Faerie Queene" of Edmund Spenser.
Title: The Gateway to Spenser With Sixteen Coloured Plates and numerous marginal illustrations from Drawings by F. C. Papé.
Publisher: London, Edinburgh, Dublin and New York, Thomas Nelson and Sons, no date (circa 1910). First Edition illustrated by Frank C. Papé.
Language: Text in English.
Size: 9 " X 7.5 ".
Pages: 399 pages.
Binding: Attractive and very good full cloth gilt decorated binding (hinges fine, overall slightly scuffed - as shown) under a protective removable mylar cover. Upper edge gilt.
Content: Very good content (bright, tight, and clean, rare light foxing - as shown).
Illustrations: Complete with Sixteen wonderful Coloured Plates and numerous marginal illustrations from Drawings by F. C. Papé.

The book: Rare First Edition illustrated by Frank C. Papé of The Gateway to Spenser, Stories from The Faërie Queen. The Faerie Queene is an English epic poem by Edmund Spenser. Books I–III were first published in 1590, and then republished in 1596 together with books IV–VI. The Faerie Queene is notable for its form: it is one of the longest poems in the English language as well as the work in which Spenser invented the verse form known as the Spenserian stanza. On a literal level, the poem follows several knights as a means to examine different virtues, and though the text is primarily an allegorical work, it can be read on several levels of allegory, including as praise (or, later, criticism) of Queen Elizabeth I. In Spenser's "Letter of the Authors", he states that the entire epic poem is "cloudily enwrapped in Allegorical devices", and the aim of publishing The Faerie Queene was to "fashion a gentleman or noble person in virtuous and gentle discipline".

The author: Edmund Spenser (1552/1553 – 13 January 1599) was an English poet best known for The Faerie Queene, an epic poem and fantastical allegory celebrating the Tudor dynasty and Elizabeth I. He is recognized as one of the premier craftsmen of nascent Modern English verse, and is often considered one of the greatest poets in the English language.

The illustrator: Frank Cheyne Papé, who generally signed himself Frank C. Papé (4 July 1878 – 5 May 1972), was an English artist and book illustrator. He studied at The Slade School of Fine Art, completing his studies c. 1902–04. Papé was married to a fellow Slade student, illustrator Agnes Stringer.