Good-Night (Buenas Noches)

New York: Thomas Y. Crowell & Co, 1907. First edition in book form. Twelvemo (7 3/8 x 4 7/16 inches; 187 x 113 mm.). Collating 53, [3, blank]. Original gray cloth. Front cover and spine lettered in white and pictorially stamped in green, white and slate. Minimal rubbing to corners and spine ends. With five color plates by Arthur Rackham (including frontispiece). An excellent copy of this very scarce little book.

Good-Night (Buenas Noches) is the delightful story of Padre Alonzo and his cheeky Mexican parrot, Loretta, and yellow canary named Tony. Loretta has taken a shining to Tony and a disliking to the slim, hollow-faced Padre Anzar. Loretta has to stand her ground with Anzer and the prowling cat Tomasso.

The story first appeared in Scribner's Magazine in February 1906, accompanied by six (one additional) Rackham illustrations. No English edition was ever issued.

Eleanor Gates was born on September 26, 1875 in Shakopee, Minnesota, southwest of Minneapolis. She described her early life in her novel The Biography of a Prairie Girl. Gates married playwright Richard Walton Tully in 1901 after they had both completed their studies at the University of California, Berkeley. Gates had worked initially as a writer for a newspaper in San Francisco, as well as writing novels. In 1907, her first novel was illustrated by Arthur Rackham. Her best known work was the play The Poor Little Rich Girl, produced in 1913.

Latimore and Haskell 30. Riall 81.