Cat's Cradle: a Picture-book for Little Folk; cats by Louis Wain; rhymes by May Byron
New York: Dodge Publishing Company, 1909. Wain, Louis. Hardcover. [48] p.: 7 full-page color illustrations, many color illustrations with text; 25 cm. Grey paper over boards; black, green, and purple cover illustration of female cat with ball of yarn sitting next to kitten in a cradle. Grey fixed endpapers. No date of publication given; it was published in Britain by Blackie and Son in 1908. This is the first American edition with first verse being "Playtime in Pussy-town." Title vignette is a cat holding a sign reading "Christmas Carols." Most pages have one illustration with amusing verse, some have more than one illustration on a page. The center two pages, without verse, contain four illustrations set in a nickelodeon, showing what happens when an audience of cats sees a moving image of mice. The final 11 pages contain verses about Christmas, including Santa Claws and several about the traditional English pantomime. Gift inscription on front fixed endpaper dated 1912 or 1913. The scarce first American edition stating only Dodge Publishing is much less common than either the English edition by Blackie and Son or those listing both publishers. In Good- Condition: original cloth spine is gone (as is typical of this book); boards have been reattached through an old repair; chipping along edges of gray paper over boards, with most significant loss along spine and fore-edge of front board; light soiling throughout, primarily along lower edges; occasional foxing; 2-cm. tear from top edge and lower edge of title page at gutter; otherwise, solid. Good -. Item #002913
Price: $485.00