A Likely Place
(London): Macmillan, (1967). Single volume, measuring 8.5 x 5.5 inches: [6], 57, [1]. Original black cloth lettered in silver, original clipped orange pictorial dust jacket printed in black and white. Black and white illustrations throughout text. Lightest edgewear and sunning, small tape repair to jacket verso, ghost of bookseller label to front flap.
First edition of this early children’s title by Newbery winner Paula Fox, the story of an anxious (and anxiously watched) young boy: “Everyone wanted to help Lewis. That's why he was thinking of running away.” Lewis’s life improves markedly when his parents leave town, and a free-spirited sitter allows him to roam after school. Publishers today would likely shy away from a story that encourages children to explore caves with men they befriend in the park, but in Fox’s telling, Lewis’s adventures have a dreamlike, almost magical quality. Edward Ardizzone’s drawings perfectly capture the boy’s experience of oppression and liberation. A near-fine copy.
Price: $50.00