Pinocchio

New York: J.H. Sears & Company, Inc, 1926. First Edition. Hardcover. Near fine/very good. Rule, Christopher. The first edition, first printing of the Rule-illustrated edition, quarto size, 243 pp., with dust jacket. Everyone is familiar with the story of "Pinocchio", the wooden puppet who came to life. Originally published in serial form as "The Story of a Puppet", with the first installment on July 7, 1881, the story was first published in book form in 1883. "Pinocchio" is considered a classic of children's literature, with some seeing therein a "universal icon and a metaphor of the human condition" (n.b., quote per Wiki).

The author, Carlo Lorenzini (1826-1890), adopted the name of his home town of Collodi as his pen name; although he began studies to enter the priesthood, he determined that not to be the right path for him. His involvement in Italian politics during the unification of Italy led him to publish political newspapers, which, upon becoming disenchanted with politics, led him to translating works of children's literature and, eventually, to writing his own - and, thus, was born Pinocchio.

This work with illustrations by Christopher Rule (1894-1983); this one of his earlier works. By the 1940s he was mostly a comic book artist, the first regular artist with Marvel Comics during the "Silver Age of Comic Books" (n.b., info and quote from Wiki).

One of the "Sears Illustrated Juveniles", publisher's ad in the rear lists the 20 titles available which states, in part, "[e]ach volume is beautifully illustrated with border pictures in color on every page that are different in each book".

___DESCRIPTION: Bound in full orange cloth over boards with an illustrated paper onlay on the front surrounded by a gilt ruled border, lettering in gilt above the illustration, spine with gilt lettering and decorations, pictorial endpapers, coloured frontispiece (which illustration is the one on the front board), black-and-white illustrated title page, every page with the text set within wide illustrated orange borders; quarto size (9.75" by 7 7/8"), pagination: [2, half-title with blank verso] [i-ii] iii-vi [1] 2-236 [1, publisher's ad]. With the publisher's original dust jacket, with the same illustration as the frontispiece on spine and front panel, back panel with publisher's ad for the series, both flaps with additional publisher's ads.

___CONDITION: Volume is near fine, with clean boards, the paper onlay not rubbed or worn and the colours still bright, the gilt lettering and decorations bright and unrubbed, straight corners with minimal rubbing, a strong, square text block with solid hinges, the interior is clean and bright, and entirely free of prior owner markings; a small spot of soil on the rear endpapers at the gutter. The jacket very good; it is not price-clipped although there is no printed price on the flaps (the ad on the back panel does give a price of $1.25), all component parts present and attached although there is a fair amount of overall wear including some short tears where the spine meets the panels. Even with its few faults still a bright copy, with the dust jacket and delightful illustrated page borders.

___CITATION: Baumgarten, Artist, p. 177.

___POSTAGE: International customers, please note that additional postage may apply as the standard does not always cover costs; please inquire for details.

___Swan's Fine Books is pleased to be a member of the ABAA, ILAB, and IOBA and we stand behind every book we sell. Please contact us with any questions you may have, we are here to help.