2 Kate Greenaway first editions are documented on this shelf, from Under the Window: Pictures & Rhymes for Children (1879) to Under the Window: Pictures & Rhymes for Children (written and illustrated by Kate Greenaway; her first book both written and illustrated by herself) (1879) across 2 different publishers. Each linked guide gives the points of issue that separate a true first printing of that Kate Greenaway title from later printings and book-club copies — the publisher and year to expect, the number-line or edition-statement conventions, and the tells that show up in online listings.

Identification only, per the house rule: no prices and no appraisals here. Checking a Kate Greenaway copy in hand? Type the title into the First-Edition Checker or photograph the copyright page with Snap & Sort.

Under the Window: Pictures & Rhymes for Children — 1879 · George Routledge and SonsGreenaway's first book of her own verses and pictures, engraved and printed in color by Edmund Evans. The title page carries no printed date; the book was rushed into the Christmas 1878 trade even though 1879 is the year conventionally assigned to it in library and bibliographic records. Evans printed an unusually large initial run of 20,000 copies, which sold out before he could strike a second, with reprints…. Later Routledge printings of 'Under the Window' drop the 'End of Contents' line from page 14 and omit the full-page illustrations on pages 21, 35, and 63 that appear in the first issue.
Under the Window: Pictures & Rhymes for Children (written and illustrated by Kate Greenaway; her first book both written and illustrated by herself) — [1879] (undated on title page; published October 1879 for the Christmas trade — see trueFirstNote on the 1878/1879 cataloguing split) · George Routledge & Sons, LondonSmall quarto, 64 pp., with Greenaway's own verses and numerous wood-engraved illustrations printed in colour by Edmund Evans (many text vignettes plus full-page illustrations; no tipped-in plates — the images are integral colour wood-engravings). Standard bibliography: Schuster & Engen 201. The true first edition, FIRST ISSUE (S&E 201.1a) is identified by three points: (1) "End of Contents" printed at the foot of…. There is NO signed/numbered deluxe or large-paper limited issue of this title — unlike the later Edwardian gift-book illustrators (Rackham, Dulac), Greenaway's Routledge/Evans toy books were mass-market colour gift books issued in a single trade form. The prized true first is therefore the ordinary trade first edition, FIRST ISSUE (Schuster & Engen 201.1a), distinguished by the three points above (End of Contents…. Because the title page is undated, later Routledge/Warne reprints (and the cumulative ~100,000 copies produced, including the French "Sous la Fenêtre" and German editions) can be mistaken for the first. Later printings/issues LACK the three full-page illustrations on pp. 21, 35 and 63 and move/omit the "End of Contents" line from the foot of p.14; the second issue adds printer's ornaments flanking "Edmund Evans"….

More Children's & YA shelves: Katherine Paterson, Kwame Alexander, L. Frank Baum, Laura Ingalls Wilder, Lemony Snicket (Daniel Handler), Lloyd Alexander.

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