CHARLOTTE'S WEB Hardcover - 1952

Charlotte’s Web (1952) by E. B. White is a piece of classic children’s literature. Fern Arable, a young girl growing up on a farm, pleads with her father to not butcher the runt of a recently birthed litter of pigs. After being spared, Wilbur the pig spends some time as Fern’s pet before being sold to her uncle, Homer Zuckerman, at which point Wilbur’s adventure truly begins. After being rejected by the other animals at Homer’s farm, Wilbur strikes up an unlikely friendship with Charlotte, a spider whose silky web resides near the pig. When Wilbur learns that he is to be butchered, his arachnid companion hatches a daring plan to save his life. The famous novel has been adapted into a movie, video game, stage production, and is soon to be made into a television series. A feat of storytelling, Charlotte’s Web won the Laura Ingall’s Wilder Medal and was a Newbery Honor book in 1953.


Charlotte's Web is one of the best-selling paperbacks of all time. E.B. White rarely signed books, so a signed first edition can run anywhere from a few thousand dollars, to over $25,000.

Sixty years ago, on October 15, 1952, E.B. White's Charlotte's Web was published. It's gone on to become one of the most beloved children's books of all time. To celebrate this milestone, the renowned Newbery Medalist Kate DiCamillo has written a heartfelt and poignant tribute to the book that is itself a beautiful translation of White's own view of the world--of the joy he took in the change of seasons, in farm life, in the miracles of life and death, and, in short, the glory of everything.

We are proud to include Kate DiCamillo's foreword in the 60th anniversary editions of this cherished classic.

Charlotte's Web is the story of a little girl named Fern who loved a little pig named Wilbur--and of Wilbur's dear friend Charlotte A. Cavatica, a beautiful large grey spider who lived with Wilbur in the barn.

With the help of Templeton, the rat who never did anything for anybody unless there was something in it for him, and by a wonderfully clever plan of her own, Charlotte saved the life of Wilbur, who by this time had grown up to quite a pig.

How all this comes about is Mr. White's story. It is a story of the magic of childhood on the farm. The thousands of children who loved Stuart Little, the heroic little city mouse, will be entranced with Charlotte the spider, Wilbur the pig, and Fern, the little girl who understood their language.

The forty-seven black-and-white drawings by Garth Williams have all the wonderful detail and warmhearted appeal that children love in his work. Incomparably matched to E.B. White's marvelous story, they speak to each new generation, softly and irresistibly.