C h i l d r e n ’ s L i t e r a t u r e 44 Eleanor Roosevelt’s Christmas Story For Children, Signed By Her 52. ROOSEVELT, Eleanor. Christmas. A Story. New York, 1940. Square 12mo, original pictorial paper boards, dust jacket, custom clamshell box. $5500. First edition, signed by Eleanor Roosevelt in blue ink. This Christmas story for children by the First Lady, illustrated by Fritz Kredel, relates the tale of a special Christmas Eve in a war-torn Netherlands. “The times are so serious,” Mrs. Roosevelt writes in her preface, “that even children should be made to understand that there are vital differences in people’s beliefs which lead to differences in behavior.” Serially published in the December 28, 1940 issue of Liberty Magazine. Contemporary gift inscription. Interior fresh with trace of soiling, faintest toning to spine of bright dust jacket. A lovely price-clipped copy, about-fine. “The Crayon Is As Much A Character As Harold”: First Editions Of The First Five Harold And The Purple Crayon Books 53. JOHNSON, Crockett. Harold and the Purple Crayon. WITH: Harold’s Fairy Tale. WITH: Harold’s Trip to the Sky. WITH: Harold at the North Pole. WITH: Harold’s Circus. New York, 1955-59. Together, five volumes. 12mo, original half cloth, pictorial boards, dust jackets, custom clamshell box. $11,500. First editions of the first five books of Crockett Johnson’s Harold and the Purple Crayon series, including the very scarce first book, in original dust jackets. 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. Harold’s Fairy Tale is the library issue of the first edition, bound in sturdier full buckram, with “Library Edition” stamped on dust jacket front panel. Fairy Tale, Trip to the Sky, and North Pole dust jackets each with one corner of the front flap price-clipped, almost certainly by the publisher. Books fine to near-fine, dust jackets extremely good to near-fine. A lovely set.
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