“INCREASE RABBIT STARTED LIFE WITH THE UNIMPRESSIVE NAME OF GEORGE”

MCCREADY, Thomas Leighton. Increase Rabbit. New York: Ariel Books, (1958). Slim, square octavo, original yellow cloth, original illustrated dust jacket. $800.

First edition of this beautiful and entertaining collaboration between acclaimed illustrator Tasha Tudor and her husband about an oversized rabbit, with lovely in-text color and black-and-white illustrations reminiscent of Beatrix Potter.

"Increase Rabbit stands out as memorable" (Davis, The Art of Tasha Tudor). Increase Rabbit was one of five collaborations between Tudor and her husband, Thomas McCready. Tudor set out on the venture with the intention of encouraging her indolent husband to contribute to the family income. Together, the pair reinterpreted and reframed events from the lives of their family and friends. Increase was the name of an enormous rabbit that belonged to the Warren children of Webster, New Hampshire; Tudor was a devoted New Englander. Tudor won the Regina Award in 1971 for the body of her work. "In books characterized by delicate illustrations and simple prose, Tudor presents an unashamedly sentimental view of childhood… [and] the animals, children, and situations, she says, are 'done from actuality, not imagined" (Silvey, 653).

Dust jacket price-clipped. A fine copy.