J O N K E R S R A R E B O O K S
First edition. Original publisher’s laminated pictorial paper cov - ered boards decorated in a wrap- around design by Axel Scheffler. Pictorial endpapers. Illustrated in colour throughout by Scheffler. A near fine copy, with a little wear to one corner and a few tiny indenta- tions to the boards, but overall an crisp, bright copy. $17,500 The author’s most famous work, the first edition of which has become one of the rarest and most keenly sought of all modern children’s literature. The idea for the book was suggested to Donaldson by her publisher in 1994. The year before Methuen had pub - lished A Squash and a Squeeze, based on a song written for BBC Children’s Television and they now suggested something based on a folk story. Don-
RARE STATE WITH HAND COLOURING [DARTON, William] SONGS FOR THE NURSERY Collected from the Works of the Most Renowned Poets, and Adapted to Fa - vourite National Melodies William Darton, 1825 [42445] Third Darton printing, rare hand-coloured issue. Square 16mo (130x105mm). Original muslin covered boards with title label to up - per cover. Twenty-four wood engraved plates after William Marshall Craig each with original hand colouring. A very good copy indeed, sometime neatly rebacked and front endpa- per renewed, small chip to the title label. In- ternally fresh, a very well preserved copy. $21,500
The 1825 printing, with rare hand colouring, of one of the most important and influential books of nursery rhymes, which originally contained the first appearance in print of such rhymes as Miss Muffet and Old Mother Hubbard. First published, unillustrated, by Tabart in 1805 and then with illustra - tions in 1808. Darton issued 1818 with re-engraved illustrations. Many of today’s well known nursery rhymes and songs found their ori - gins in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries but were passed down in the oral tradition until the mid eighteenth century when collections were committed to print. Songs For The Nursery was the culmination of these early endeavours, without which many rhymes would have been lost. Darton’s printings were available in three states: without illustrations for sixpence, with illustrations for 1/6 and with hand coloured illustrations for 2/6. Anecdotally, it seems the majority of copies purchased were with uncoloured illustrations and examples with the original hand colouring are extremely rare. Two other copies of the 1825 printing are recorded at auction, the only hand coloured version of which was in 1978 and only three copies are recorded in institutions (V&A, Lilly Library and Chica - go) none of which have hand coloured illustrations.
aldson unearthed a Chinese fable about a girl who escapes being eaten by a tiger by claiming to be the fearsome Queen of the Jungle and inviting him to walk behind her. The tiger misinterprets the terror of the various animals they meet as being related to her rather than him, and flees. She painstakingly adapted the fable for a wood in the English countryside, creating a fictitious monster, revising frequently until the final draft was sent to Reid Books, who had taken over Methuen’s Children’s Books. It supposedly sat on the desk of an editor for over a year, before Donaldson sent the manuscript to Axel Sheffler, who had illustrated her first book. He in turn showed it to Macmillan who agreed to publish it on the spot. Success wasn’t immediate, but sales were steady and grew persistently as the book developed first into a best seller and then a modern classic, selling over 13 million copies worldwide in over 100 languages. Why the first edition should be quite so scarce is hard to fathom. Mac - millan report an initial print of 2000 hardback copies published in 23 March 1999: a small number but not miniscule considering it appears in commerce meaningfully less frequently that the hardback issue of Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, which was issued in an edition of only 500 copies. It is likely that the a large proportion of the hardback issue would have been sold to school or public libraries to be read into oblivion, and that the remainder received scarcely less rough handling by the young audience at which it was aimed. Whatever the reasons, de - spite worldwide demand among collectors, first editions of The Gruffalo
ONE OF THE RAREST MODERN CHILDREN’S BOOKS DONALDSON, Julia; SCHEFFLER, Axel THE GRUFFALO Macmillan, 1999 [46666]
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