Description

FIRST EDITION OF THE LIFE OF DONALD DUCK, 1941, BOLDLY INSCRIBED BY WALT DISNEY

DISNEY, Walt. Walt Disney’s The Life of Donald Duck. New York: Random House, (1941). Quarto, original half brick red cloth, pictorial paper-covered boards, pictorial endpapers, original dust jacket.  

First edition of the irascible quacker’s “only Authorized Biography,” generously illustrated in black and white and color, boldly inscribed by Walt Disney in the year of publication with characteristic flourishes on the verso of the title page, “To E—- E—- with my very best wishes, Walt Disney, B.A. 1941.”

“Donald Duck made his first appearance on June 9, 1934 in the Silly Symphony The Wise Little Hen… [and] his popularity was soon to equal and surpass that of Mickey Mouse” (Munsey, 110). By 1942, in fact, Walt Disney compared the character’s star power to that possessed by Clark Gable: “Donald Duck is known by the American public. He’ll open the door to the theaters” (Jackson, 39-40). This book—which features large illustrations on almost every page, many in full color—recounts Donald’s escapades from the day he hatched (a cold and rainy Friday the thirteenth, no less) to his rise up (and his fall back down) the ladder of success. We accept Donald “as one of us,” wrote Robert Feild, “because we recognize, particularly in his moments of despair, a gentle heroism that we would wish to emulate” (Art of Walt Disney, 41). The “B.A.” in Disney’s inscription refers to Buenos Aires. In 1941, at the United States government’s request, “Disney went on a goodwill tour of South America to develop markets to replace those lost in Europe and Asia during wartime hostilities. This led to projects aimed at the Latin American markets, such as Saludos Amigos (1943) and The Three Caballeros (1945)” (ANB). This copy’s recipient was a YMCA Secretary and a leading member of the Buenos Aires Rotary Club.

Interior generally quite clean with faint offsetting and foxing to endpapers, bright paper-covered boards with only light wear. Original dust jacket with mild edge-wear including shallow chipping to spine ends, folds and panels lightly rubbed; minor foxing to rear flap. An excellent and extremely desirable inscribed copy.