The Story of Ferdinand
New York: Viking Press, 1936. Single volume, measuring 8 x 7 inches: [72]. Original tan cloth spine lettered in red, red pictorial paper boards, yellow pictorial endpapers, original unclipped red pictorial dust jacket. Black-and-white illustrations throughout text. Inscribed on title page: “To Aunt June / with much affection at Christmas. / Ferdinand / per Robert Lawson.” Occasional light foxing, several closed tears and paperclip marks. Moderate chipping and splitting to folds of dust jacket, early tape reinforcement to verso, spine sunned.
First edition of Munro Leaf’s tale of a gentle bull who defies the expectations of the Madrid bullring, warmly inscribed by illustrator Robert Lawson. The Story of Ferdinand was an immediate success upon publication, although the book’s supposedly subversive message got it banned in Franco’s Spain: “When he got to the middle of the ring he saw the flowers in all the lovely ladies’ hair and he just sat down quietly and smelled. He wouldn’t fight and be fierce no matter what they did. . . . the Banderillos were mad and the Picadores were madder and the Matador was so mad he cried because he couldn’t show off with his cape and sword.” The Story of Ferdinand was the first collaboration between friends Leaf and Lawson; the latter would go on to win both the Caldecott and Newbery medals in the 1940s. Grolier Children’s 100, 80. A very good example of one of the great modern picture books, scarce inscribed.
Price: $6,500.00