“ROOSTER, YOU WILL NEVER BRING UP THE MORNING SUN AGAIN”

LOBEL, Arnold. How the Rooster Saved the Day. New York: Greenwillow Books, (1977). Oblong quarto, original russet pictorial paper-covered boards, original dust jacket. $650.

First edition of this “magic show of a shrewd rooster’s victory over a gullible robber,” inscribed by the Lobels, “Good wishes to the Firesides from Arnold Lobel, April 1978. And me too. Anichlen [Anita] Lobel,” with a sketched head-shot of the famous rooster.

"Arnold Lobel has produced a number of books for small children which display an idiosyncratic sense of humour and an outstanding ability to create comic characters with just a few words and pictures" (Carpenter & Prichard, 323). His hallmark is the creation of "a kinder, gentler world, where laughter, happy endings, and the return to a snug home are the norm… His stories examine the human condition with warmth and compassion." How the Rooster Saved the Day is one of two folk tales he wrote expressly for his wife Anita to illustrate. Anita Lobel "is also an actress, and her love of theater is reflected in her picture books. As she starts working on a book, she often thinks of it as staging a play… [and in Rooster] her pages are bordered by curtains and the rooster and a robber are clearly performing on a stage" (Silvey, 413-15).

A fine inscribed copy, with only minor edge-wear to original dust jacket.