The Selfish Giant: A Fairy Tale.
[Larchmont, NY: Peter Pauper Press, n.d. ]. One of fifty copies reserved for F. Kay Kaplan and André Durenceau out of a total edition of 750 copies. This copy is inscribed by Kaplan and Durenceau to prominent Los Angeles bookseller Jake Zeitlin and his wife Josephine: “to Mr. and Mrs. Jake Zeitlin. Memories of a pleasant evening.”. Illustrations by André Durenceau on title-page and colophon. Printed in red, gray-green, and black. Upper corners of pages lightly creased. Near fine. Red cloth spine, decorative paper over boards. Front cover blocked in silver with title printed in black borders. White paper dust-jacket, perhaps added by a former owner. Twelvemo. 7 x 5 in. 16 pp. Item #17933
Peter Beilenson founded Peter Pauper Press in his parents’ basement in 1928. Originally focused on reprinting classic literature in the public domain, the press would gradually shift towards fine press works and, later, gift books. During its heyday, Peter Pauper was co-run with Beilenson’s wife, Edna, who also served as the press’s typesetter and binder. (See the Peter Pauper Press in Blumenthal’s The Printed Book in America.).
The Selfish Giant is a brief moral tale of Wilde’s, originally published in the 1888 collection The Happy Prince and Other Tales, concerning a giant who walls off his garden to keep children out, inadvertently trapping himself in a permanent winter. The arrival of a special child brings spring to the garden, and change to the giant’s worldview.
Price: $200.00