“IF YOU WILL PAT THE WASP UPON THE TAIL, WE WILL GIVE YOU A NICE BOOK”

FIELD, Eugene. The Tribune Primer. No place: No date, circa 1900. Small octavo, three-quarter purple morocco, elaborately gilt-decorated spine, raised bands, marbled boards and endpapers, top edge gilt; pp. 29. $200.

Early edition of Eugene Field’s satirical take on the New England Primer drawn from his writings for the Denver Tribune, handsomely bound.

"The Tribune Primer (1881) is made up of selections from the Denver Tribune and modeled after The New England Primer. Field's Primer is a pardoy of the earlier one and directed at an audience considerably older than the subheadings suggest. The whimsical, often sardonic, humor in The Tribute Primer—for example suggesting that children pat the wasp, eat a wormy apple, or put mud in baby's ears—seems indicative of Field's early attitude toward children" (The Poetry Foundation). While Field did often tease children, he mellowed considerably in his later years and is perhaps best known today as the author of a wide variety of popular verse for children as well as for the lullaby "Wynken, Blynken, and Nod." With original front wrapper bound in. Blank leaves bound at rear.

A fine copy, handsomely bound.