MADELINE'S CHRISTMAS.

UK,slim Qrto HB+dw/dj,1st edn thus.[Originally published as a special book insert in the 1956 Christmas edition of McCall's,which was a popular American monthly woman's magazine.Magazine's first issue in 1873 and then a final issue in 2002.In the UK,the HB+dw/dj,1st edn by Andre Deutsch Ltd. in 1985.] FINE+/FINE+.No owner inscrptn and no price-clip to dw/dj.Bright,crisp,clean,matt,colour pictorial illustrated dw/dj with white lettering to front and black lettering to red spine/ backstrip; with negligible shelf-wear or creasing to edges and corners - no major nicks or tears present.Both head+foot of spine/backstrip minimally bumped with reciprocal creasing.Top+fore-edges bright and clean; contents bright,tight,clean, solid and sound - pristine - no dog-ear reading creases to any pages' corners,appears unread - apart from my own collation.Bright,crisp,clean,sharp-cornered,publisher's original colour pictorial illustrated paper-covered boards - design repeated from dw/dj with immaculate plain red endpapers.UK,slim Qrto HB+dw/dj,1st edn thus,32pp [unpaginated] includes single page and 3 double-page colour illustrations with verse text,plus half-title page, colour pictorial illustrated title page,and a title separator page before body of text.The last title in the Madeline series of six.
Sincere thanks to Mrs Ludwig Bemelmans and Barbara Bemelmans for their help and advice in adapting and restoring the text and art for 'Madeline's Christmas', and for lending us the few remaining pieces of original art.For this book,the art has been photographically enlarged and re-coloured by Jody Wheeler to prepare it for reproduction. "In an old house in Paris that was covered in vines,lived twelve little girls in two straight lines."
It's Christmas Eve and all is not well with Miss Clavel and her charges. They are in bed with colds,feeling miserable.
All except Madeline.She is busy tending to her friends,until a knock comes at the door...
The rug-selling magician is a Christmas blessing.Madeline buys his rugs,and then,colds forgotten,the twelve little girls are whisked away on magic carpet rides. Madeline's one of twelve girls in a convent boarding school in Paris - the only one out of pattern.She is the only child not afraid of mice,the only one who even breaks out of the 'two straight lines' in which they walk out 'in rain or shine',the only one who has an appendix scar,the only one who falls into the river and is fished out by a dog - and the only one who knows best 'How to frighten Miss Clavel',their strict but devoted teacher. Ingenious rhymes and the endless inventiveness of a superb caricaturist have established for all time Pepito the Bad Hat,Genevieve the excessively fertile bitch adopted by the school,Miss Clavel (always seen either stiffly vertical or fully extended as she runs ever faster towards some anticipated disaster),and the demure individualist Madeline. Ludwig Bemelmans,an Austrian author,born in 1898 and emigrated to America in 1914.Notable for his 'Madeline' picture books with verse texts.'Madeline's Rescue' (1953) won the Caldecott medal.He died in 1962. Please contact rpaxtonden@blueyonder.co.uk ,for correct,insured shipping/P+p quotes - particularly ALL overseas buyers - BEFORE ordering through the order page! ** N.B. ALL buyers please note,stocks' actual shipping/P+p costs are adjusted and any difference is refunded,after order's receipt and before the order's despatch,especially if the item(s) are offered either P+p included/FREE.
** N.B. US/Canada customers please be aware: Standard AIRMAIL postage from UK to these destinations can now cost more than the price of the book! If speed is not of the essence,then Economy rate is recommended - at approx. anything from a 1/3rd to 1/2 of the standard AIR quote/rate - sometimes arriving sooner than the 42 days - but not always.