Madeline’s Rescue
New York: The Viking Press, 1953. Single volume, measuring 12 x 9 inches: 56. Original red cloth pictorial boards stamped in black, color pictorial endpapers, original unclipped color pictorial dust jacket priced at $3.00. Color illustrations throughout text. Signed by Ludwig Bemelmans on half-title. Corners lightly bumped, small circular abrasion to lower board. Light edgewear and chipping to jacket spine ends, evidence of label removal to front jacket panel.
First edition of the second of Ludwig Bemelmans’s exuberant Madeline books, signed “Ludwig” by Bemelmans. After being pulled from the Seine by a stray dog, Madeline and her fellow schoolgirls adopt her as a pet, only to see their beloved Genevieve banished by the school trustees: “Miss Genevieve, noblest dog in France, / You shall have your VEN-GE-ANCE!” Bemelmans’s detailed illustrations introduced generations of American children to the landmarks of Paris: in this volume, he depicts the Institut de France, the Eiffel Tower, the Ile de la Cité, Notre-Dame, the Pont Neuf, Sacré-Coeur, Les Halles, Saint Germain des Près, Père Lachaise, and the Tuileries. Madeline’s Rescue would win the Caldecott Medal for 1954. A very good signed copy.
Price: $1,250.00