Description

EXCEPTIONAL FIRST EDITION OF MADELINE, INSCRIBED BY BEMELMANS

BEMELMANS, Ludwig. Madeline. New York: Simon and Schuster, 1939. Slim folio, original pictorial boards and endpapers, original dust jacket.

First edition, first issue, of the first book about the irrepressible Madeline, inscribed on the pictorial front free endpaper: “For Mrs. Edwin Trent, Ludwig Bemelmans. New York, January 1940. On les aura [one will have them]!”

“The original inspiration for Madeline was the convent where Bemelmans’ mother was educated as a child, along with the author’s own experience in boarding school, where he walked with his classmates in two straight lines” (Silvey, 55). First issue, with 12 girls instead of 11 in the “They went home and broke their bread” illustration. Original price stamp on rear endpaper.

Book very nearly fine, dust jacket very good with only light rubbing to extremities, minor toning, and chip to rear panel. A lovely copy, most rare inscribed by Bemelmans.