“ONE OF THE MOST ENDEARING BOOKS EVER WRITTEN FOR CHILDREN”: LOVELY PUBLISHER’S PRESENTATION COPY

GRAHAME, Kenneth. The Wind in the Willow. London: Methuen, (1908). Octavo, original blue cloth, gilt cover vignette, top edge gilt, uncut. Housed in a custom full leather slipcase. $14,000.

First edition, presentation copy, of a childhood classic, with publisher’s presentation stamp on the title page.

"Unquestionable is the permanence, as an inspired and characteristically English contribution to children's literature, of Kenneth Grahame's The Wind in the Willows… one of the most endearing books ever written for children… Part of the secret success of the book is that its appeal is ageless and parents never tire of reading it aloud. Like all great books it is inexhaustible" (Eyre, 62). Grahame created his classic a series of bedtime stories for his four-year-old son Alastair, who was known as Mouse; yet it also became "in many respects an elegy for the old idyllic English rural life which Grahame could now see was passing away forever" (Carpenter & Prichard, 218). In a letter to Theodore Roosevelt, Grahame described the book as "an expression of the very simplest of joys of life as lived by the simplest beings." C.S. Lewis pointed to it as "a perfect example of the kind of story which can express things without explaining them" (Carpenter, 168). Without extremely rare original dust jacket. Pierpont Morgan 269. Presentation stamp placed over publisher on title page, implying that this is a publisher’s presentation copy.

Stray mark to frontispiece, scattered foxing (less than usual), inner paper hinges expertly repaired, original cloth exeptionally fresh, gilt quite bright. A beautiful and desirable presentation copy. Rare.