“FOR A DIESEL, YON BOCO’S NAE SICH A BAD SORT OF ENGINE”

AWDRY, W. Main Line Engines. London: Edmund Ward, (1966). Oblong 12mo, original brown paper boards, original dust jacket. $850.

First edition of the 21st book in the Railway Series, with 27 vibrant color illustrations.

In this 21st book in the series, strange occurrences abound as BoCo the diesel joins the Fat Controller's Railway, only to find himself caught up in the pranks of the mischievous twin engines, Bill and Ben. As a young boy growing up in Hampshire, Wilbert Awdry developed a fascination with railways as a result of his father's enthusiasm for them. When Awdry's family moved to Box in Wiltshire, Awdry would lie in bed at night listening to the trains on the main line of the Great Western Railway, located just yards from his house. He later wrote, "It needed little imagination to hear, in the sounds the train engine and banking engine made, what they were saying to each other… From that time there developed in my mind the idea that all steam engines had personality and could express it." When his son came down with the measles, Awdry began writing the first railways stories, which began a beloved series that ran for 28 years. "Extremely popular with little boys (and bigger ones) for over 40 years, not only does Awdry's splendid Railway series seem to have not suffered a jot from the passing of the age of steam, but it seems to have blossomed into a truly permanent landmark in 20th-century children's books" (Connolly, 29).

Book with a few spots of foxing to interior and faint discoloration to boards. Dust jacket with only light wear to extremities. A near-fine copy.