IN THE SCARCE DUSTWRAPPER

CROFT-COOKE, Rupert; Quentin BLAKE [Illus.] ~ Tales of a Wicked Uncle.

FIRST UK PRINTING. Jonathan Cape, London: 1963.

Large 8vo., red and white publisher's boards, lettered in black and red and featuring images of an oversized cat and girl to the upper cover, and a snake to the lower; housed in the repeat dustwrapper (neatly clipped); illustrated throughout with numerous black and white images by Quentin Blake; THE BOOK a very good copy, a touch darkened to spine and edges with some light bumps to corners and spine tips; endpapers lightly offset and sporadically foxed throughout; THE WRAPPER also very good, though with similar browning to spine and foxing mostly affecting upper panel; lightly nicked and chipped to ends of folds and spine, with a couple of short closed tears and a few discrete internal tape repairs. The wrapper is protected in a removable Brodart archival cover. First edition, with the illustrations by Quentin Blake. A series of rhyming verses by Rupert Croft-Cooke, an author who also penned a series of crime novels under the name Leo Bruce. Born in Kent, he travelled widely throughout his long career as a journalist, writer, radio broadcaster and antiquarian book dealer, and he also wrote prolifically throughout his life. Openly gay, he was sent to prison in 1953 for 'acts of indecency', which he later wrote about in 'The Verdict of You All' (1955). His case was also discussed in the Wolfenden Report, the landmark ruling which later paved the way for the decriminalisation of homosexuality in the United Kingdom. A wonderful collection of children's verses, mostly on the subject of animals and some of them cautionary, scarce in the dustwrapper.

BINDING: Hardcover
CONDITION: Very Good
JACKET: Very Good