The Velveteen Rabbit, or How Toys Become Real.
Price: $12,500.00
Hard Cover. New York: Heinemann, 1922. First Edition. Very Good / Dust Jacket Included.
Illustrations by William Nicholson (seven color illustrations, three of which are double-paged). First edition, first printing, American issue. Publisher's yellow paper-covered boards, printed in brown with toy rabbit illustration to front board; in its original off-white pictorial dust jacket, with toy rabbit illustration to front panel and lit candle to rear panel. Near fine book, with light rubbing to spine ends, some wear through paper to boards at corners, bottom edges of boards, and bottom of rear board, illustrations bright and unfaded, and a touch of spotting to text block edges; very good unclipped dust jacket, with a moderately sized closed tear to top of front panel, some chipping to spine ends (slight loss to publisher's symbol at foot of spine), small chip to top edge of rear panel, chip to bottom right corner of front panel, other corners slightly nicked, small chip to rear flap fold, some light wear to folds, and a touch of soiling to panels. Overall, a lovely copy of this exceedingly scarce children's classic. In Margery Williams' The Velveteen Rabbit, a toy rabbit made of velveteen is gifted to a boy for Christmas. The boy loves and plays with the rabbit for a couple of hours, until he unwraps his mechanical toys and forgets about him. The rabbit learns from the boy's oldest toy, the Skin Horse, that toys have a chance of becoming real if a child truly loves them. Eventually the boy gains strong affection for the rabbit ("for wherever the boy went the rabbit went too"), though complications arise when the boy comes down with scarlet fever. The Velveteen Rabbit has received numerous awards, including the IRA/CBA Children's Choice Award, and is frequently adapted for the stage. In 2022, the book celebrated its 100th anniversary. Item #MWI001
