This red leather, first edition of Cinderella illustrated by Arthur Rackham is exceptionally rare. Go on, Google it. Unless you're on intimate terms with the curators at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, you could go a lifetime without laying hands on it (the Met has a copy in their famed archives). 

 

Published in 1919, this book is from the personal library of Anne Larsen Simonson. Known as "Topsy" for her vibrant "Auntie Mame" personality, her father Roy E. Larsen was the publishing magnate behind TIME Magazine and Sports Illustrated. 

 

With its gorgeous gilded edges, this edition is remarkable both for its rarity and its beauty. It bears slight staining on the spine and cover (from being shown off to friends, no doubt), which in my opinion only adds to the story. 

 

With many pieces inherited from her father, Topsy's library was admired by collectors worldwide, from the signed autobiography of Winston Churchill to the 1896 Uncle Tom's Cabin and the 1894 Pride and Prejudice.

 

Pieces like this red leather Cinderella are what made her library stand out. This book is for more than your average collector; it is for someone with a true connection to Cinderella or Arthur Rackham.

 

If you are Lily James, Cate Blanchett, or Kenneth Branagh, this is the book for you. Helena Bonham Carter (a.k.a. the fairy godmother in the 2015 movie), this also seems right up your alley.