“THERE’S A FAMILY OF DUCKS WALKIN’ DOWN THE STREET!”: RARE FIRST EDITION OF MAKE WAY FOR DUCKLINGS

MCCLOSKEY, Robert. Make Way for Ducklings. New York: The Viking Press, 1941. Slim folio, original beige cloth, pictorial endpapers, original dust jacket. $19,500.

First edition of McCloskey’s Caldecott-winning book, beautifully written and illustrated with sepia drawings by him. With the rare original dust jacket.

"McCloskey's Make Way for Ducklings gives an engaging picture of Boston and tells a story of universal delight for children everywhere" (Meigs, 586). "While he was working on the illustrations… McCloskey realized he needed live models. He bought four mallard chicks at a market and brought them home to his New York City apartment. When he went to Boston to sketch backgrounds, he brought back six more ducks. 'All this sounds like a three-ring circus,' he says, 'but it shows that no effort is too great to find out as much as possible about the things you are drawing, It's a good feeling to be able to put down a line and know that it is right" (Silvey, 443).

Book with toning to endpapers from binder's glue, faint foxing to cloth; scarce unrestored dust jacket toned, with chipping to spine ends and wear to corners. A very good copy.