The Pobble who has no toes

Brisbane : Locks’ Press, 1979. Quarto, linen with engraved illustration by Margaret Lock on upper board, unpaginated, pp. [16]; illustrated with eight original etchings, printed on veil Arches white, 250 gsm, by Margaret Lock, a fine copy. Printed in an edition limited to 60 signed and numbered copies, a couple of very small spots of foxing, else a fine copy.

A very rare Queensland private press book, the first book of the Locks’ Press, printed and illustrated by Margaret Lock. 

‘Locks’ Press was established in 1979 in Brisbane, Australia. It was a private press, owned and operated by Fred and Margaret Lock. In 1987 Fred and Margaret Lock moved to Ontario. Margaret Lock illustrated most of their work. The Press ceased book publication after 2000, though it continued to produce broadsies until 2013 when it ceased operations and the Locks’ moved to England. Frederick Peter Lock was born on 2 October 1948 in London. Margaret Helen Capper was born in 1950 in Canada. They married in 1974. Fred Lock worked at the University of Queensland from 1974 to 1988.’ – Fryer Library website https://manuscripts.library.uq.edu.au/index.php/fvf762

The Locks’ aim was to rescue ‘unjustly neglected’ texts, reviving here the poem by Edward Lear of the Pobble, who had his toes stolen while swimming the Bristol Channel.

‘The Pobble who has no toes’ was first published in Laughable Lyrics, a fourth book of nonsense poems, songs, botany, music, etc. in 1877.’ – colophon

Five copies recorded in Australian libraries – one in the National Library of Australia, one in the State Library of New South Wales, one copy in the Fryer Library, University of Queensland, two copies in the State Library of Queensland.

Copies are also held in the National Gallery of Australia and The Morgan Library, New York.