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Hodder and Stoughton (Australia), Published 1981. Hardcover, [30] pp. (unpaginated); 27 cm; First Edition; published in association with Hodder and Stoughton Children's Books, Sevenoaks; typeset by Griffin Press, Adelaide, printed by Dai Nippon, Hong Kong; illustrated throughout with full-page color paintings by the author facing the verses; pink patterned endpapers.
In Good condition with a Good dust jacket. Green paper-covered boards with gilt lettering on spine, moderate shelf wear with rubbing and small nicks to the paper along edges, some color loss along edges. Binding tight. Previous owner's name in pen at upper corner of front pastedown. Otherwise unmarked. Illustrated dust jacket (a green front door with stained-glass panels, a girl in red peeping around it) shows creasing and rubbing along top edge with a 1 inch closed tear at top edge of rear panel and several smaller nicks and short tears, light soiling, rubbing at corners and spine ends. Now in an archival quality (removable) Brodart cover. Picture book of a small girl's surroundings in fourteen short verses (My house, My mama, My dog, My garden, My rocking horse, My tree, and others), each facing a full-page painting in Niland's saturated watercolour and gouache style: the Federation-era brick house with its patterned-glass door, sparrows on the path, a rainbow lorikeet in the garden, a dapple-grey rocking horse. Niland (1950-2009), New Zealand-born and raised in Sydney, was the daughter of the novelists Ruth Park and D'Arcy Niland and twin sister of the illustrator Deborah Niland, with whom she drew Mulga Bill's Bicycle (1973) and the Muddle-Headed Wombat books; My World is one of the books she both wrote and illustrated, and the rear flap notes the Whitley Award for her Feathers, Fur and Frills (1980). Dedicated to her husband and son. Front flap text: This is a delightful book for the very young, depicting, in vibrant colours, elements of a baby's world (my rocking horse, my mama, my father, my garden, my bed). Each superb painting is accompanied by a simple and charming verse describing the child's-eye view of familiar surroundings.