Other editions of book The Water-Babies Illustrated

The protagonist is Tom, a young chimney sweep, who falls into a river after encountering an upper-class girl named Ellie and being chased out of her house. There he drowns and is transformed into a "water baby", as he is told by a caddisfly-an insect that sheds its skin-and begins his moral education. The story is thematically concerned with Christian redemption, though Kingsley also uses the book to argue that England treats its poor badly, and to question child labour, among other themes.

[This is the Audiobook CD Library Edition in vinyl case.] [Read by Simon Vance] A classic since its first publication in 1863, The Water-Babies is the story of a little chimney sweep named Tom and his magical adventures beneath the waves. The ill-treated Tom flees his dangerous toil and his cruel master, Grimes. When he jumps into a cool stream to clean the soot off himself, he becomes a water-baby, cleaner and happier than he has ever been, in a hidden fairy world. There, Tom meets haughty dragonflies, makes friends with a slow-witted lobster, and dodges hungry otters. Eventually, he meets the other water-babies and their clever rulers, Mrs. Bedonebyasyoudid and Mrs. Doasyouwouldbedoneby. After a long and arduous quest to the Other-end-of-Nowhere, young Tom achieves his heart's desire.

Shipped from UK, please allow 10 to 21 business days for arrival. 25cm x 19cm. 240pp. Beautiful green vignettes throughout + 12 tipped in coloured plates by Jessie Willcox Smith (all present). Minor foxing and marks to pages, free from inscription. Bound in bottle green cloth covered boards, lightly worn and rubbed to extremities and a little shaken, bright gold gilt decoration and text to upper and spine.