– 38 – N e w A c q u i s i t i o n s “The Crayon Is As Much A Character As Harold” (Silvey) 45. JOHNSON, Crockett. Harold and the Purple Crayon. New York, 1955. 12mo, original half black cloth, pictorial paper boards, dust jacket, custom clamshell box. $3200. First edition of the very rare first book in Crockett Johnson’s Harold and the Purple Crayon series, in scarce original dust jacket. American author and illustrator Crockett Johnson was “a cartoonist whose simplest, sparest, and boldest outlines produced unforgettable, gently humorous, and always endearing caricatures in the world of American children’s picture books. His natural gift for drawing and writing from a young child’s viewpoint enabled him to craft more than 20 juvenile books” (Silvey, 355), including the most popular among them, Harold and the Purple Crayon. Dust jacket with both corners of front flap price-clipped, indicating a likely later issue. Book clean and near-fine, price-clipped dust jacket with a few short closed tears, bright and very good. Exquisitely Bound “Artists’ Water Color And Hand Illuminated Edition” Of The Complete Works Of John Keats, With Beautiful Hand-Colored Plates Signed By The Artist, One Of Only 26 Lettered Copies 46. KEATS, John. The Complete Works. London and Boston, 1904-05. Four volumes. Royal octavo, contemporary full inlaid blue morocco gilt. $9500. Extraordinary, deluxe “Artists’ Water Color and Hand Illuminated Edition,” one of only 26 large-paper lettered copies (this copy unlettered), sumptuously bound and splendidly illustrated with tissueguarded plates in three states, one of which is expertly hand-colored; all of the scenes are signed in pencil by the artist, Frank T. Merrill. Additionally illustrated with vividly handcolored and illuminated initials, head- and tailpieces. Includes Keats’ complete works, edited by Nathan Haskell Dole, and based with some revisions upon the edition of H. Buxton-Forman. This beautiful edition was created to be the first “edition de luxe” of Keats’ works, beautifully printed on fine paper with wide margins. “No expense has been spared to make this… in every respect perfect.” Frank Thayer Merrill was a popular and prolific American illustrator whose designs adorned many books around the turn of the past century. Occasional foxing (chiefly to tissue guards). A splendid set in fine condition.
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy NDg3OTM=