51
52
53
54
51 KEEPING, Charles. Charley, Charlotte, and the Golden Canary. London: Oxford University Press, 1967 First edition, first impression, of the Kate Greenaway medal winning book, notable for its unspoken commentary on race and housing. Keeping’s work, which has a Black British boy on the book cover, depicts a cross-racial friendship that is not highlighted as unusual or different. “It is a story of interracial friendship torn apart by one of the children’s move to a tower block; the increasing gentrification and urbanization of London was a common theme in Keeping’s work. Keeping’s text is understated, not confrontational, but it is the white child who moves away: ‘No. 1, Charlotte’s house, was the first to go. Charlotte and her mother went to live at the very top of a brand-new building’ while Charley, the Black child, remains. The tower block is depicted in the accompanying illustration as golden, and shining in all directions, with clean edges and straight lines in a text that is otherwise filled with dark colours that smudge
and overlap, crooked buildings and odd angles. The golden tower is a Rapunzel-like prison for Charlotte; she is not allowed to leave. Her old home, ‘Paradise Street was slowly turning into a muddle of bricks, rubble, and ruins. Charley became so lonely’. He eventually reunites with Charlotte and is welcome to come and play whenever he likes, but Keeping never suggests that Charley moves or might move from the slum street to the golden tower. The tower block acted, for Keeping, not just as a destroyer of communities, but as a means of separating racial groups who had previously lived side-by-side in relative harmony. It is a powerful statement . . . Indeed, the Kate Greenaway Medal was perhaps more progressive (at least slightly) in terms of racial diversity in the 1960s and 1970s than it is currently” (Sands-O’Connor, p. 160). Quarto. Original yellow cloth-backed pictorial boards, front cover lettered in black, yellow endpapers. With dust jacket. Full colour illustrations throughout. A very good copy, faint foxing to endpapers, else clean and bright, in like jacket, price-clipped, a couple of tiny chips and nicks, bright and sharp. ¶ Karen Sands-O’Connor, Children’s Publishing and Black Britain, 1965–2015 , 2017. £150 [150159] 52 KERR, Judith. The Tiger Who Came to Tea. London: Collins, 1968 Her notably scarce first picture book with dust jacket First edition, first printing, notably scarce. This children’s classic telling the story of Sophie, Sophie’s mummy, and “a big, furry, stripy tiger” has never been out of print: it has been translated into 11 languages and sold over five million copies. It has also been adapted for the theatre and made into an animated short film for television.
bibliography). This is an uncommon book, especially in this condition, and very rare in the glassine. Quarto. Original pictorial boards, illustrated blue and yellow endpapers. Retaining the original glassine, front flap priced “5/- net”. Housed in a custom blue cloth chemise within blue half morocco slipcase. With frontispiece, illustrated title page, 11 full-page colour plates, and numerous smaller colour illustrations throughout by Jessie M. King. A fine copy. Glassine slightly chipped and torn but all holding without repair. £2,500 [144314] 54 KING-SMITH, Dick. The Sheep-Pig. London: Victor Gollancz Ltd, 1983 Rare inscribed first edition, later filmed as Babe First edition, first impression, presentation copy, inscribed by the author on the verso of the half-title, “For Alan & Joan Tucker, best wishes, from Dick King-Smith”. Inscribed copies of this title, the basis for the 1995 film Babe , are rare. The recipients of this volume were the booksellers Alan Tucker (1934–2017) and his wife Joan (d. 2013). They established a bookselling business in Stroud, Gloucestershire, in 1962 which sold new, second-hand, and children’s books until they retired in 2006. Octavo. Original blue boards, spine lettered in gilt. With pictorial dust jacket. Illustrations in the text by Mary Rayner. Minor abrasion to front pastedown, else a fine and notably fresh copy, in the dust jacket, not price-clipped, minor crease to front flap and minor indentation to front cover, else fine and bright. £1,500 [151940]
Quarto. Original printed illustrated boards, spine and front cover lettered in black, plain endpapers. With dust jacket. Colour illustrations throughout by the author. Ownership signature on front pastedown. Some foxing and light browning to boards, some minor internal foxing, minor creases to some leaves; a very good and bright copy. Some toning to dust jacket with head of spine very slightly frayed; a very good example of a clipped jacket. £4,000 [152473] 53 KING, Jessie Marion (illus.); GEMMELL, Marion. Mummy’s Bedtime Story Book. London: Cecil Palmer, [1929] With rare original priced glassine First edition, first impression. Marion Gemmell has only recently been acknowledged as an author, since for many years the identity of “Marion” was assumed to be the illustrator herself, Jessie Marion King. The descendants of Mrs Alexander (Marion) Gemmell have now affirmed her as the author (B199, Colin White
51
53
All items are fully described and photographed at peterharrington.co.uk
CHILDREN’S BOOKS & ORIGINAL ARTWORK
30
31
Made with FlippingBook Online newsletter maker