Curious George Gets a Medal
Boston: Houghton Mifflin Company, 1957. Early printing. Quarto, publisher's canary cloth, spine and upper board stamped in red, illustrated endpapers, original illustrated dust jacket.
Early printing of the fourth book in the Curious George series, in which the inquisitive monkey who left his jungle home to live with the Man with the Yellow Hat goes to outer space. Hans Augusto and Margret Rey created Curious George (originally named Fifi) in 1939. The Jewish couple fled Paris by bicycle with their manuscripts the following year as the Nazi army approached, and eventually settled in New York City, where they began publishing their much-loved series. (Margret, who principally wrote the texts – while Hans illustrated them – would not be officially credited until the last title in the series that the pair collaborated on, Curious George Goes to the Hospital, was published in 1966.) This title was published only a few weeks prior to the Soviet launch of Sputnik II, reflecting Rey’s interest in astronomy and space travel. Fifth printing. Light fingersoiling to cloth; price-clipped dust jacket with chipping to spine-ends and edges, a few closed tears, some soiling and light edgewear. About very good. Item #13272
$75.00