(Children's Classics, Modern First Editions, Picture Books) BEMELMANS, Ludwig. MADELINE.
New York: Simon and Schuster, 1939. FIRST EDITION. Folio - 12-1/4" x 9-1/16". Original color pictorial paper-covered boards with the slightest touches of wear to the corners. Original publisher's color pictorial dust jacket priced at $2.00 on the front flap, exhibiting minor wear to the spine ends and flap folds, with minor edge fraying on the rear panel. Color pictorial endpapers with a previous owner's bookplate on the verso of the front free endpaper. [48] pp. Illustrated by Bemelmans with both full-page full-color paintings depicting iconic Parisian landmarks and black pen-and-ink line drawings embellished with bright primary yellow watercolor washes. First state issue, designated by the 1939 date printed on the title page and the presence of twelve girls (rather than eleven) in the "In two straight lines they broke their bread" illustration on page [11].
The physical condition of both the book and the dust jacket is graded NEAR FINE (utilizing the standard antiquarian book grading scale for works on paper). The paper-covered boards remain bright and clean with crisp edges and only minimal rubbing at the tips. The internal text block is tight, square, and immaculate, with no internal markings or foxing. The original dust jacket retains its vibrant colors and original $2.00 price, showing only minor shelf wear to the spine ends and short closed fraying to the top rear edge.
Ludwig Bemelmans and the Creation of an American Picture Book Classic
Published in 1939 by Simon and Schuster, Madeline introduced one of the most beloved and enduring figures in twentieth-century children's literature. Inspired by Ludwig Bemelmans's own childhood experiences in European boarding schools and a hospital stay in France following a bicycle accident, the rhyming narrative recounts the adventures of a fearless young girl in Paris who turns an emergency appendectomy into a triumph among her schoolmates. Bemelmans's iconic artwork—characterized by energetic ink lines set against broad washes of primary yellow and Parisian cityscapes—earned the volume a Caldecott Honor in 1940. With its innovative composition and vibrant storytelling, Madeline represents a landmark achievement in modern picture book publishing, with complete first-issue copies retaining their fragile $2.00 dust jackets standing among the most coveted prizes in modern children's book collecting.
Series Bibliography, Census, and Market Scarcity
Because of the heavy juvenile usage typical of popular picture books, pristine examples of Madeline in the first issue state—complete with both the 1939 title-page imprint and the twelve-girl print variant before later plate revisions—are notoriously elusive in collectible condition. The vast majority of early circulating copies were worn out or discarded, making surviving first-state examples in their original $2.00 dust jacket exceptionally scarce in both the trade and institutional holdings.
THIS EXCEPTIONALLY WELL-PRESERVED FIRST EDITION IN ORIGINAL DUST JACKET OFFERS AN OUTSTANDING SURVIVING EXAMPLE OF ONE OF THE TWENTIETH CENTURY'S MOST FAMOUS CHILDREN'S BOOKS, REPRESENTING A CRITICAL ACQUISITION FOR INSTITUTIONAL SPECIAL COLLECTIONS OR EXTRAORDINARY PRIVATE COLLECTIONS DEVOTED TO THE HISTORY OF CHILDREN'S LITERATURE, MODERN FIRST EDITIONS, OR TWENTIETH-CENTURY PICTURE BOOKS.
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