Bridge to Terabithia
PATERSON Katherine
- Date published: 1977
- Format: Hardcover
"PATERSON, Katherine. Bridge to Terabithia. New York: Thomas Y. Crowell, (1977). Octavo, original navy cloth, original dust jacket. Housed in a custom clamshell box. $12,000.Most exceptional first edition of the quintessential children's book about loss, signed by Katherine Paterson and specially annotated by her with over 1300 handwritten words describing the writing process and her experiences after publication, all intended to bolster this copy's value for a Christie's auction to benefit the PEN/American Center."Paterson, who has already earned regard with her historical fiction set in Japan, proves to be just as eloquent and assured when dealing with contemporary American childrenand Americans of very different backgrounds at that. Jess, from an uneducated family in rural Virginia, has been practicing all summer to become the fastest runner at schoola reputation more desirable than his present image as 'that crazy little kid who draws all the time.' But Jess is beaten in the first race of the fifth-grade year by a newcomerwho is also the first girl ever to invade the boys' part of the playground. Soon Jess and Leslie, whose parents have moved from the suburbs because they're 'reassessing their value structure,' become close friends. On her lead they create Terabithia, a secret magic kingdom in the woods, and there in the castle stronghold she tells him wonderful stories about a gloomy prince of Denmark, or a crazy sea captain bent on killing a whale. She lends him her Narnia books and lectures him on endangered predators but he teaches her compassion for a mean older girl at school. Indeed Leslie has brought enchantment into his life. Then one morning, with the creek they must swing over to reach Terabithia dangerously swollen by rain, and Jess torn between his fear of the maneuver and his reluctance to admit it, he is saved by an invitation to visit the National Gallery with his lovely music teacher. The day is perfectbut while he is gone Leslie is killed, swinging into Terabithia on their old frayed rope. Jess' feelings range from numb denial to rage to guilt to desolation (at one point the thought occurs that 'I am now the fastest runner in the fifth grade')typical grief reactions, but newly wrenching as Jess is no representative bibliotherapeutic model. By the end, he is ready to think about giving back to the world something of what he had received from Leslie. You'll remember her too" (Kirkus).This copy was specially annotated by Katherine Paterson for an auction at Christie's intended to benefit the PEN/American Center. Here, she has added more than 35 annotations totaling more than 1300 words providing deep insight into Paterson's ideas and intentions as the author of this work. Paterson has also added photographic images of her son, David, and his friend, Lisa, on whom the novel's protagonists were based. David also wrote the screenplay for the 2007 film adaptation. This work also includes a copy of an excerpt from David's childhood journal discussing the pain of being admired for being a character in the book given that the highly traumatic death of his best friend, Lisa, was the book's inspiration.On the title page, Paterson has written: "This is where I usually autograph, having learned the proper page at the Library of CongressWell, they should know, shouldn't they? So here's the autographKatherine Paterson 1/1/14."On the front pastedown, she has written: "One of the early reviews said this was a classic case of 'Don't judge a book by its cover.' Nobody at T.Y. Crowell felt it did justice to Donna's original, but I don't recall any disappointment with it and certainly the illustrations in the book are lovely.On the verso of the front free endpaper, Paterson has written: "First editions of Bridge are a bit hard to come by almost 40 years later as the first printing was a modest 7,000 copies. When it won the Newbery in January 1978, a second edition was launched immediately, but the truck carrying the u
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