A Wrinkle In Time (FIRST PRINTING, FIRST STATE, INSCRIBED BY AUTHOR)
L'Engle, Madeleine
- Publisher: Ariel Books / Farrar, Straus and Cudahy, New York
- Date published: 1962
- Format: Hardcover
In 1960, Madeleine L'Engle -- then a teacher at St. Hilda's & St. Hugh's School in New York City -- completed the manuscript for her juvenile science fiction masterwork, "A Wrinkle in Time." It was reportedly rejected more than 30 times. Finally it reached John C. Farrar and -- despite the fact his house at that point had no line of children's books -- "Wrinkle In Time" was published in 1962 by Farrar, Straus and Cudahy (not Farrar, Straus and Giroux, as often erroneously claimed, that firm not having come into existence until 1964.) That year -- or in 1963 at the latest -- Mrs. L'Engle then took a first printing of that book -- stating "First Printing, 1962" to copyright page, priced $3.25 to jacket front flap, with NO "Newberry Medal" seal to front panel -- inscribed it in blue ink directly to the blank FFE "To the Rochester Public Library, / Happy tessering and all good wishes, / Madeleine L'Engle" . . . and (we presume) donated it to that institution. And what did the librarians of the Rochester Public Library do with that book? Did they seal it away in a locked cabinet unaltered, hoping that in 50 or 60 years it might be worth 12 or 15 thousand dollars (which would have been a good guess)? Well, not quite. Close, though. They stamped it "Rochester Public Library" to the top page edges; and glued a sticker beneath Mrs. L'Engle's signature to the FFE, reading "Rochester Public Library / Reference Book / Not for Circulation." They also placed the jacket in one of those old-fashioned plastic protectors with brown bands to top and bottom edges (now replaced), which left some tape residue to top and bottom of the blank pastedowns (only.) Fortunately, though, they did NOT trim the jacket. Also fortunately, they did NOT glue in any further library attachments, nor apply any further stampings, save a small numeral "1" to top of the front pastedown, and the numerals "1 - 2" to bottom of dedication page, possibly indicating this was the first of two copies then in the collection. And now we present that copy here, "very good" (save for aforementioned stamping to top page edges, and who can complain that the outfit to which the copy was signed chose to install their own bookplate?) in a wonderfully preserved, near-fine, first state original dust jacket. The 2003 Disney TV film starred Katie Stuart, Gregory Smith, and David Dorfman. The 2018 Ava DuVernay film, starring Oprah Winfrey, Reese Witherspoon, Mindy Kaling, and Storm Reid, did not fare well at the box office. 211 pp.
catscuriosities-9000.00-a6289059513ded61cd1cff30cbd60e44