SENDAK, MAURICE. 1928-2012.
Where the Wild Things Are. New York: Harper & Row, 1963. Oblong 8vo. Publisher's gray cloth-backed color lithographed boards, pictorial dust jacket, edges slightly rubbed; jacket partially soiled and toned with minor chipping along bottom right of front and tender along folds.
Provenance: Hilary Kinght (inscribed by Sendak and dated Dec 63, bookplate).
FIRST EDITION, PRESENTATION COPY FROM ARTIST TO ARTIST IN THE MONTH FOLLOWING PUBLICATION, inscribed in ink on the half title page with a sketch of Max: "Dec '63 For Hilary Knight Maurice Sendak." The true first printing of the book with Library of Congress number 63-21253 on bottom of title page and some pages off register, in a first state dust jacket prior to winning the 1964 Caldecott Medal with $3.50 price and code "40-80 /1163" on bottom of front flap and three paragraph blurb on each flap. Sendak was a great admirer of Hilary Knight's work. "My first happy response to Eloise was entirely due to the brilliant, iconic images," he admitted. "That brazen, loose-limbed, delicious little girl monster is Hilary Knight at his best."
