THE VELVETEEN RABBIT
First printing, US issue in a variant (likely trial) UK jacket, of the beloved children's classic.
Fine in very good plus jacket.
Price: $30,000.00
THE VELVETEEN RABBIT
"The truth is I don't think I've ever found anything as purely 'moving' as the end of THE VELVETEEN RABBIT." – David Foster Wallace
This book captures the wistful attachment to our childhood toys through the story of a stuffed rabbit that hopes the love of its owner can make it real. It is one of the great collaborations in modern children's books, with the lithographs and the text equally invoking bittersweet affection: "You were Real to the Boy [...] because he loved you." Later printings did not use lithography to produce Nicholson's drawings, making the first printing especially distinctive in the quality of its lustrous illustrations. This is a remarkable copy of "one of the first modern picture books, a perfect combination of story and pictures" (Mahony).
Scarce, even moreso in an unrestored dust jacket, and especially in this variant. The US first was typically issued with UK jackets, but we've only been able to trace this variant (printed in a single color, lacking the Heinemann logo at the bottom on the spine, and with an entirely blank rear panel) to one other copy. That copy appeared at Christie's in 1998, where they described it as a "rare variant (or trial?)" jacket. That copy sold for almost $15,000 and remains even today the highest price any edition of this book has achieved at auction.
Read more: Mahony, Illustrators of children's books, 1744-1945; Wallace, "Brief Interview with a Five Draft Man," Amherst Magazine, Spring 1999; Christie's sale 9012, lot 177.
The Object
First edition. New York & London: George H. Doran & Heinemann, 1922. 9.5'' x 7''. Original pictorial paper boards. Original unclipped (no price) variant pictorial dust jacket (printed in single color, no logo on spine, blank rear panel). Color pictorial rabbit endpapers. Illustrated with 4 full-page and 3 double-page color lithographs. [8], 19, [1] pages. Housed in a custom full leather clamshell box. Except for a very slight bit of rubbing to head of spine, the book is in truly fine condition, in bright and clean pictorial dust jacket with 1'' chip at foot of spine, some mild fraying at folds, and a few short closed tears.
The Fine Print
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