Nutcracker 1984

New York: Crown Publishers, Inc, 1984. First Edition, First Printing. Boldly SIGNED by Sendak on the half-title page, dated Nov. 29, ‘84, the same month of the book’s release. Navy blue cloth-covered boards with silver lettering to front and spine, with a blind-stamped decorative design on front. Front board slightly bowed. Color pictorial dust jacket, unclipped, with light wear along edges and front turn. Illustrated endpapers. Internally clean and bright. Fine in a Near Fine dust jacket.

A beautifully illustrated book by one of the most beloved children’s illustrators of our time. In 1983, the year prior to this book’s publication, Sendak was asked to design the costumes for the Pacific Northwest Ballet's production of the Nutcracker. The New York Times Book Review (Nov. 11, 1984) states, “Some of Mr. Sendak’s illustrations are adaptations of sketches for the Seattle production, but many have been done especially for the book. Necessarily, the manners are different, but the dissonance is not disturbing in the least. The pictures are evocative, Hoffmanesque, and appropriately scary.” and “Indeed, illustrations is too modest a term: these pictures are part of the essences of ‘Nutcracker,’ not just dressing.”

Hanrahan A119.