John Masefield was poet laureate from 1930 to his death in 1967. He was a prolific poet and fiction writer, and by the end of his life his volume of 'Collected Poems' had sold over 200,000 copies. This was an unprecedented figure for a modern poet, and spoke to his popularity with readers. Today, however, he is perhaps most well known as a children's writer, having authored such classics as The Midnight Folk (1927) and The Box of Delights (1935). This small book is bound in vellum with blue ribbons and gold tooling of a laurel wreath on the front cover. The poem it contains was written out by a calligrapher in black ink with red initials. It is also illustrated with two watercolour and ink paintings of ships done by Masefield himself. The poem is a memorial to King George V's mother, Queen Alexandra, and was set to music by Edward Elgar for the unveiling of a memorial to the late queen.