“SO HIS PARENTS LEFT HIM THERE. THEY DIDN’T TAKE HIM ANYWHERE”: THE PERENNIALLY POPULAR NUTSHELL LIBRARY, EACH VOLUME SIGNED BY MAURICE SENDAK
SENDAK, Maurice. Nutshell Library: Pierre, A Cautionary Tale; Alligators All Around: An Alphabet; One Was Johnny: A Counting Book; Chicken Soup with Rice: A Book of Months. (New York): Harper & Row, (1962). Four volumes. 24mo (books measure approximately 2-3/4 by 3-3/4 inches), original light brown cloth, original dust jackets, original pictorial cardboard slipcase.
First edition, later issue of this wonderfully illustrated little set of classics for children, each volume signed by the author/illustrator.
Each of these small books has a lesson to teach: Pierre is the cautionary tale of a little boy who says only “I don’t care!” The others delightfully illustrate the alphabet, counting to ten and the months of the year. These books “show Sendak at the height of his powers as a comic illustrator" (Carpenter & Prichard, 476). Some of the characters, like Pierre and Johnny, later incorporated into the 1974 television special, Really Rosie, Starring the Nutshell Kids and then the 1981 Broadway production of Really Rosie, made their first appearance in these books. Later issue, bound in light brown rather than pink cloth.With teal band on the spine tail of the Chicken Soup dust jacket, no priority established. Hanrahan A51. Silvey, 585.
Fine condition. Most scarce with all volumes signed.