The Very Hungry Caterpillar
New York and Cleveland: The World Publishing Company, (1969). Oblong volume, measuring 8.25 x 11.25 inches: [24]. Original glossy color pictorial boards, color-patterned endpapers, original color pictorial dust jacket clipped at upper corner of front flap, priced at $3.91 at lower corner. Color illustrations and pictorial cut-outs throughout text. Inscribed with a sketch: “For Bee Thorpe / Eric Carle” on title page. Slightly shaken, lightest shelfwear.
First edition of one of the most beloved modern picture books, inscribed by Eric Carle with a sketch of a smiling caterpillar. The inventive story encourages children to count and to follow the days of the week as the very hungry caterpillar voraciously chews his way through the book, leaving a trail of holes in his wake. The result is, in Carle’s words, “a book you can play with and a toy you can read.” The three-dimensional demands of the narrative, “requiring advanced die-cut and page-punch printing techniques,” proved to be a challenge for Carle’s publishers, who outsourced production of this first edition to Japan. This is a first printing of the book in a very early dust jacket, with a price of $3.91 on lower front flap, the correct jacket code (A3450) and jacket copy, and “World Publishing / Times Mirror / New York” on rear flap. Grolier Children’s 100, 99; Loker, A Shimmer of Joy, 62. A near-fine copy, uncommon inscribed.
Price: $12,500.00